Start-up issues.

[TechCoarse]

Hi，you said you need to adjust the stepper board voltage, you can reference board voltage range inside the picture: http://www.geeetech.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1592

Hello, so i know about the voltage range but i need to know which A4988 stepper i need to adjust since im pretty sure i adjusted the wrong one as it didnt seem to do anything to the extruder motor ive circled the stepper ive adjusted in the following pic:

(might have to click on image to see circle properly sorry!)

(Please forgive the wiring mess still adjusting the printer so cable management didnt seem like a good idea while i was doing that lol)

So did i adjust the right one or did i do the wrong one?

[_kaktus_]

Hello.



Here is the presentation of the controller board.

[TechCoarse]

Hey,

Thanks for all the help i think im actaully starting to get there now im trying to add a little extruder fan for over hangs and such and im looking for a blower the best i could find is this is that right for what im using and im guessing i would have to re-wire the end of the fan to be able to attach it to my board?

Thanks again for all the help!

[GAQ]

Hi TechCourse,

I used a fan almost identical to the one you linked (If not identical !)
It works !
The way I wired this was given to me by another user and I quoted it recently in a post...
https://www.geeetech.com/forum/viewtopi ... 66&t=68293
It worked great first time. (Varies in speed from 50% - 100% no problem)
I mounted this (Or attempted to) with a housing to also take my BL Touch probe found on Thingiverse.
It didn't fit, I'm guessing the geometry of the hot end has changed over time. It may work for you.
I ended up developing my own housing and uploading this version to Thingiverse myself.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3650612
I'm using the 'Version 4' now...
Hope this helps with your fan.

NB - I hope you sorted out the clicking extruder without winding up the power on the board !
There are a myriad of things that could cause the clicking before winding up the power to overcome an inherent problem.
Most obvious being that you're feeding too fast - You cannot force filament into a hot end that cannot melt and eject plastic fast enough to cope.
I found that using PETG and the 0.3mm Nozzle that came with the machine meant only using print speeds way slower than you'd think.
I changed to a 0.4mm Nozzle and it was like chalk and cheese. I had to re-calibrate my extruder settings as it had been obvious that I'd been attempting to force too much PETG through the 0.3mm nozzle since first building the printer.
I can print through the new nozzle at twice the speed that I could previously... Not a click to be heard !
(And I'd grown quite accustomed to it !)

Gerry

[TechCoarse]

Hey,

Thanks for the reply gaq had a look and what do you know i had it setup for 0.4 lol anyway that diffently helped but i found out but the issue is the spring is to strong which is causing the gear to dig into the filament and thats where the clicking is coming from and i do belive this is causing the extruder motor to miss steps as i try to calibrate the extruder steps and well the numbers i get are pretty inconsistant.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated

[GAQ]

Hi,

I found that when I was calibrating the extruder, I had to go really slowly to make sure the feed was consistent.

I was measuring 100mm lengths being extruded.
Mark the filament exactly 120mm above the extruder entry...
Run 100mm through (Or what the current setting thinks is 100mm ! )
Measure to the mark and see what's gone through.
Use this measured figure to re-calibrate the printer.

I had to keeping using the G codes...

G92 E0 - (This sets extruder to zero )
G1 E100 F50 - (Extrudes 100mm slowly - circa two minutes)

If I fed any quicker, there would be clicking and then differences between consecutive readings...

By going slowly, I got the printer set up correctly and then did it all again for the 0.4mm nozzle...

I was printing PETG, you may find that PLA is somewhat easier to melt and extrude and hence quicker...

I find myself printing slowly now with PETG - far better than a quick failed print !

Gerry

[TechCoarse]

Hey,

thanks for the help gerry been very helpfull so here is another issue im having currently my nozzle seems to be a little runny? when it heats up anyway to fix this?

Thanks!

[GAQ]

Leaky nozzle eh ?
Par for the course.

There's not a lot to be done about it.
You could try some extra retraction at the end of your print, then you'll just have to add some extra feed at the start of the next.

Have some tweezers at the ready and clear it off before you start printing.

What's worse though, is that the longer the nozzle sits there at temperature and gravity makes the melted filament run out, then the nozzle is being emptied of plastic for the start of your print... There's nothing feeding fresh filament.

This is why I always set my slicer program to draw a skirt around the part at the start of every print.
Usually three laps at a distance of 8mm.
Often, there's no printing going on at all for the first circuit, but generally it's printing fine before the end of the second.

Aside - I have a friend with a 'Genuine' Prusa Mk3. He uses the slicer program he received with the machine. (Slic3r PE for the Prusa model).
I've played with some gcode print models he's produced. It always draws a line across the front of the print bed at the start of every print - I reckon this is to perform the same task that I'm getting by drawing the skirt around the part.
All this, and his printer doesn't have a cheapo Mk8 Hot end and extruder - it's a genuine E3D V6, matching extruder and nozzle assembly.
At £600, his self build kit costs 4 times the price of my raw Geeetech - it does have some nice components to help make it the favourite machine for many !

Gerry