Prints drifting right to left?
Hi all
Finished building my mk3s friday!
Benchy printed fine in pla, but trying to print PETG (default settings in prusa slicer) and the print slowly "drifts" from right to left.
Was all over the place right to left, so tightened the cross belt and has made it much better, but keen to eliminate the drift.
any help would be much appreciated.
thanks
chris
Best Answer by Neophyl:
That's a weird one that I've not seen before. Layer shifts that produce uneven walls etc yes from loose pulleys but a gradual shift over that then stops is different.
The only thing I can think of at the moment is to check your cable bundle isnt too tight at that height (its stiff so can act like a spring). This could possibly be making your x axis motor lose steps.
btw when someone asks for the model they usually mean the actual stl model. Although for debugging purposes its MUCH better so go File>Save Project As. Then ZIP the resulting .3mf file up and then attach the zip file. It has to be zipped or the forum wont accept it, as only certain limited file types are allowed. And .3mf as the project file contains the model AND all of your settings. That allows someone to slice it and preview it with exactly the same environment you are using.
RE: Prints drifting right to left?
Pictures of model and first layer please?
RE: Prints drifting right to left?
apologies for the delay in getting back to this. work gets in the way 🙁
this is the design in f360
and this is how it starts printing
any help would be appreciated.
RE: Prints drifting right to left?
update: the prints drift right to left for the first 5mm or so, then print as expected. very confused!
RE: Prints drifting right to left?
That's a weird one that I've not seen before. Layer shifts that produce uneven walls etc yes from loose pulleys but a gradual shift over that then stops is different.
The only thing I can think of at the moment is to check your cable bundle isnt too tight at that height (its stiff so can act like a spring). This could possibly be making your x axis motor lose steps.
btw when someone asks for the model they usually mean the actual stl model. Although for debugging purposes its MUCH better so go File>Save Project As. Then ZIP the resulting .3mf file up and then attach the zip file. It has to be zipped or the forum wont accept it, as only certain limited file types are allowed. And .3mf as the project file contains the model AND all of your settings. That allows someone to slice it and preview it with exactly the same environment you are using.
RE: Prints drifting right to left?
Also - check the grub screws on the extruder for the X axis. If they get slightly loose and there is any friction points (and there always are some) on the axis it will shift the layer going across that friction. If the screws are marginally tight it may be that the extra friction is only enough when at low heights due to things like the cable bundle. Easy to forget those grub screws can loosen and will cause issues.
RE: Prints drifting right to left?
thanks @neophyl
got the drift down to the first 2mm or so by playing with the cable bundle, so i'm guessing this is the issue.
will keep playing with it and see how it goes.
RE: Prints drifting right to left?
If you can loosen the wrap off somewhat, untwist it. IIRC that makes it less stiff, but I'm glad you at least have an avenue to go down.
RE: Prints drifting right to left?
i "think" i might have fixed it.
released the screws holding the cable bundle into the control box, unwound it a bit and ran the Z through its full range.
Tightened back up and did a test print.
Seems to be working ok.
RE: Prints drifting right to left?
just had another thought...
prints are fine from the sd card, but i've been printing using API to octoprint from prusa slicer...
will try saving the files to the raspberry pi and printing from there to see if there is any change.
work tomorrow (sat) so will probably have to wait until sunday.