X-axis stutters, possibly tight belt
Hello. I have assembled the MK3S Kit. I have already printed a few small prints, but tried to take on a larger one today. I am unsure of how to embed a picture, but here is the imgur link of the result: https://imgur.com/k4ey186
It is strangely skipping some of the lines, and at the end there, to the right, it just completely freaked out and started to zig zag and go over the lines. What is so strange to me is that the leftmost part is practically flawless.
My hypothesis is that the X axis motor is getting stuck, and I'm pretty sure that's the case as I've seen it stutter as it tries to print, instead of smooth motions it is much more jittery.
What do I do? This has really bummed me out.
Best Answer by jsw:
You definitely have some layer shifting in there.
I would carefully check all mechanical aspects, particularly those of the X carriage. With the belt removed, the extruder and carriage should travel smoothly from side to side. It should not bind and it should not be more difficult to push in any places. Also check to be sure that the grub screw (set screw) on the X pulley is tight. This is a common cause of layer shifting.
The belt tension is best set by feel and not by the numbers on the front panel. It should vibrate something like a bass guitar string when plucked. A good test is to hold the shaft of the stepper with pliers and try to move the carriage. There should be no discernible 'slop' or 'play' that allows movement. With the belt connected, you should be able to still move the carriage easily and no friction other than that of the motor and pulley should be present.
Also check to be sure that the connection from the X stepper motor to the Einsy board is secure and tight.
RE: X-axis stutters, possibly tight belt
Also I want to add that the self test returned no errors.
RE: X-axis stutters, possibly tight belt
It could be more than one thing. First, your first layer is not adequate. You appear to need to lower your live Z. The lines need to merge into a single layer.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: X-axis stutters, possibly tight belt
You definitely have some layer shifting in there.
I would carefully check all mechanical aspects, particularly those of the X carriage. With the belt removed, the extruder and carriage should travel smoothly from side to side. It should not bind and it should not be more difficult to push in any places. Also check to be sure that the grub screw (set screw) on the X pulley is tight. This is a common cause of layer shifting.
The belt tension is best set by feel and not by the numbers on the front panel. It should vibrate something like a bass guitar string when plucked. A good test is to hold the shaft of the stepper with pliers and try to move the carriage. There should be no discernible 'slop' or 'play' that allows movement. With the belt connected, you should be able to still move the carriage easily and no friction other than that of the motor and pulley should be present.
Also check to be sure that the connection from the X stepper motor to the Einsy board is secure and tight.
RE: X-axis stutters, possibly tight belt
@jsw
Alright. I did the pliers on the stepper thing, and was surprised to discover the GT2-16 Pulley moved a bunch. The lower screw (not on the flat part) was not tightened at all. I must have missed the step where I was supposed to tighten those, dang. There is still one other problem however, which you mentioned. While pushing it with an even force, it snags at some parts, but this could be my imagination, after all, my "constant force" is just my human arm. But what I'm absolutely sure of is that the carriage is harder to move toward the rightmost part of the axis, away from the x-axis motor, getting stuck much more noticeably. It's kind of an exponential increase, at the end it feels pretty off.
The belt is tighter than the y-axis one, that much I can say. I don't own a bass, but the top belt produces a F#2 sound and the lower one a C2 sound. It takes a bit of force to fully push them together, not tighten-a-screw force but more like pinching a cheek without it hurting force. I loosened the top screw on the x-end-motor as well, although I didn't notice any change by touch.
Anyway, I did some test runs, and it would seem that that loose screw was the major problem. I've put it to print the print in the image once more, and it appears to be doing fine, which is very nice, the issue seems to have been resolved. However...
I heeded what @charles-h13 said, and did some tests to better adjust the First Layer. I was at .900mm in the first picture, .950mm produced way better results. I ended up landing between .925mm and .950mm, and printed the base of the Prusa logo on each setting to compare. That's when I discovered that strange print quality thing. The right side of the print was solid, while the left side's lines didn't stick together. Does this have to do with the x-axis or is it a different problem entirely? How do I fix it?