A30M Issues

[TJ1113]

Purchased this less than two weeks ago and I've been fighting with it ever since I bought it.

I have owned a CR10 since 2017 and have done several upgrades to it so this isn't my first rodeo.

I purchased a 3D Touch with it and it just doesn't work. I can manually level the bed and it will lay down prints just fine. Tried using the 3D Touch and it was hit or miss. I thought maybe there was a bug as it sort of worked if I turned it off then on and ran a print but found that wasnt true. So I purchased a capacitive NPN sensor (LJC 12A3-4-Z/BX) and installed it today. Still doesn't work. Actually made the nozzle crash into the bed one of the times I was setting it up. Switch back to manual and it lays prints down fine. Yes I know that there are 2 settings for the two different sensors. It goes through the motions of G29 when I order a print, but when it starts to lay down filament the nozzle is just smashing into the bed. So it's obvious that it is not working. Looking at the forums I'm not the only one with this issue.

Extruders are garbage. Switched them out to left hand MK8 Extruders and they are a lot better. Also adjusted the steps for the extruder. Was set for 407 from the factory. Filament would grind and it was over extruding. Changed it to 100 and it actually feeds 100mm of filament in and no grinding. Seems to be extruding the right amount now. Also oozing is atrocious. It never stops oozing when the hot end is on. Oozing is slightly better now that the MK8s are on it. I tried adjusting the titan Extruders before I swapped them out and it did nothing for grinding or oozing.

Mylar print surface is nothing to write home about. Its ruined already. I ordered 2 more but those won't be in until September. I have Athorbot print surfaces that have been going non stop for 2 years on my CR10 and this Geeetech one didn't last 2 weeks. Scratches super easy and if you're not level the PLA sticks too well and it embeds into it. No one makes a 330x330 print surface, so I am stuck with the Geeetech ones.

Now for my biggest complaint. I bought this to use PVA for supports. Print towers are just a mess with this since it won't stop oozing. I found a purge bucket on Thingiverse and it's awesome. But even with the purge bucket it's still almost impossible to print using PVA for supports. The oozing just kills the print. I'm sure my extruder settings in Cura may need some tweeking (as well regular print settings) but something is way off. Firmware is up to date per the website, so I can't change anything there.

I will say that using a single filament and manual leveling can produce a decent print, but the documentation is scarce and I cannot find settings for printing with PVA with a 2 into 1 extruder.

So if anyone has had any luck with printing with PVA I would appreciate some tips. I haven't tried dual color or mixing yet as this is not my primary use for it.

I've thought about sending it back several times a day, but I keep trying to figure it out what is going on. I've almost thought about a negative review on Amazon where I bought it but I want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong. From what I read in the forums I'm thinking it's not just me making mistakes. I've had issues with my CR10 but I've moved forward when I do an upgrade or changes. This one seems to be going backwards

/rant

[William]

1.In the leveling configuration, you need to take a measure and then set the z-offset value and save
2.titan Extruders high torque delivery filament, mainly used on M series and T series machines, because titan Extruders corresponds to a step value of 407, if you change to MK8, you need to change the step value to 97-100
3.A30m printing area 320*320.
4.Because A30M has two inputs and one output, PVA cannot be mixed with other types of filament. Both extruders need the same filament.

[TJ1113]

1.In the leveling configuration, you need to take a measure and then set the z-offset value and save
2.titan Extruders high torque delivery filament, mainly used on M series and T series machines, because titan Extruders corresponds to a step value of 407, if you change to MK8, you need to change the step value to 97-100
3.A30m printing area 320*320.
4.Because A30M has two inputs and one output, PVA cannot be mixed with other types of filament. Both extruders need the same filament.

William

1. I did do exactly as you suggest. I have watched the videos and I own a CR10 with a ABL. Though the A30M is a different animal, I understand the procedure of setting the Z offset and then saving it. I have done it several times with the same result. The print head smashes into the bed as it is printing which means that the ABL software is not working correctly. It will run G29 and take the measurements (or so it seems), but when it comes time to print, the nozzle is too close to the bed. This happens with the 3D Touch AND the Capacitive NPN sensor. There are multiple threads on this forum where folks with the 3D touch have issues with it not working, so this is a known issue with no solution.

2.The Titan Extruders would over extrude at 407 until I brought the steps down to 100. The over extruding stopped but there was still grinding. I tried adjusting the screw on the side of the extruders and it did not help. I then changed them out to the MK8s which ended the grinding and extrusion was still good at 100. I would get globs of filament at 407 with no noticeable change until I was down near 100 with the Titans. Not sure why this is, but I am reporting what I am finding.

3. My print bed measures out at 330x330. Perhaps someone needs to do some looking into this (see attached photos). Maybe eBay should stop selling the ones I ordered as they are too big for my printer.

4. I am not trying to mix PVA with PLA. I am trying to use it as a support but purging the two different material while printing (the same thing I would be doing if I was printing two colors). This is possible with a 2 into 1 hotend, people have even successfully done it with one extruder and manually swapped material during the print. Purging is key. The other key component is stringing. If you have a machine that constantly oozes material no matter what you do with temp and extrusion calibration, then you will not have good clean prints even if you are using two similar PLA filaments of different colors. You will drag strings into the print or the nozzle leaves blobs because it constantly oozes during filament changes. It is a huge mess with failed prints.

I am not trying to be difficult, I am just reporting what I am finding and the issues I am having.

With that being said, I am still at square one with the problems I am having with my new printer.

[TJ1113]

So I have found an interesting piece of information...

Disclaimer: This is Auto Level using the LJC 12A3-4-Z/BX proximity sensor, NOT the 3D Touch. I'm not sure if I will try testing the 3D Touch as I am not a huge fan of a pin possibly failing and dragging across the bed.

With fighting with auto level I have been using the A30M display to try and set and save the Z offset. With nothing working I tried something new.

I wanted to confirm that hitting the save "button" on the screen of the A30M was actually saving the Z offset. Since I cannot get M503 to output my settings in all the different terminals I have tried, I figured I would try use the auto level screen on the A30M to display my setting for Z offset.

I used Ocotprint terminal to set the offset. When I put in anything higher than - .50 (example M851 Z-.45) I get a response that my max is -.50. So that means anything higher than an offset of -.50 and the machine just ignores the new offset, even when you hit save. Now I don't know how many times I have done this or what my offsets were, but it seems like this can be an issue. If the machine is set to reject your offset, then how is it to work correctly? I want to say that some of my offsets were in the -.2 to -.3 range. If this was the case, then this was the problem. To get a slightly higher nozzle I had to turn my sensor up a little bit so it would stop a little higher off the bed. Not much though. If I stopped turning the screw right after the light came on, it would stop too close. Now I could adjust it on the print head itself, but I have it set at the 3mm like I read it should be.

Now if I had the auto level screen up on my machine, I could see that the value was set to -.55. In the screenshot you can see I tried changing it to -.45 which the machine rejects. I still try to save it using M500. I exit auto level and go back in and my z offset still says -.55, since it rejected -.45. I then set it via terminal to -.60. I then save it using M500, exit auto level on the machine and go back in. Well wouldn't you know, it took -.60!

After playing around a little I found that my setting did end up being -.65. Now I have not tried doing this via the A30M screen at this time. At the moment I am trying a print and it is laying down well like it should be.

You don't need Octoprint for terminal. EasyPrint and Repetier-Host have it too. Cura 4.6 which I currently use has a terminal feature too (not sure what the lowest version of Cura has this feature).

I still have some more testing to do. I want to power off the printer and boot up from a cold start and make sure that it still auto levels and doesn't start doing funky things. It has crashed into the bed before on Z home. I am not sure why.

I hope this helps others. If it does, then share your results within your printer's forum...

[TJ1113]

Found a new bug...

If you power off the printer and pull the power cord, when you plug it back in and power it on, the print head will smash into the bed when home is commanded. This happens even if the unit is powered off at the home position, so not if it was left at some random spot.

I have found if you do the above, before commanding home, turn off auto level and then turn it back on and it will home without smashing into the bed.

Still needs more testing but I really don't like taking the chance of the print head smashing into the bed over and over again. I'm going to break something if this keeps up.

Will be real interesting to see how the unit will respond if it loses power while printing and then tries to resume...

[TJ1113]

Found more issues.

ABL has once again stopped working. Not sure why. I swapped to the 3D Touch to try that out and again no dice.

The left cooling fan is making noise.

Then noticed that the Y motor was loose and missing a screw. I missed that on unboxing.

Took it apart, reboxed it and sent it back for a refund.

Thank God for Amazon Prime.

I really wanted this to work. I may revisit a Geeetech in the future as it seems like there is a ton of potential.