Part quality issues and assembly worries
Hi everybody,
I've spend today assembling the printer - so far I've had an enjoyable albeit a mixed experience, so I wanted to share it with you. 😉
First of all I wanted to ask what are your general experiences with parts quality? Of course I don't expect the parts to the same as injection moulded, But I've had quite a lot of assembly steps delayed because the parts would barely fit.
The worst and scariest part were the X and Z rods- X was really difficult to insert, rods would not go in the full way, nor would they align to be the same length. and Z was next to impossible.
Since this is my first printer, it's hard for me to judge the correct resistance when sliding the axis, I'm not sure whether its binding or not..
What worries me the most are the warped Z motor mounts and the misalignment between the sides before inserting them into the top holders.
Also if the X carriage is ant the top - the trapezoidal screws align nicely in the holes and don't touch their sides, but if the carriage is at the botom the screws touch the inner sides of the holes- and tightening the tension screws on the side is doing nothing.
So am I worried for no reason or are there actually problems?
I will be connecting all the brainy magic pixie parts tomorrow and will know if I screwed up or not.
Meanwhile I'm worried and decided to post.
Will update tomorrow.
Re: Part quality issues and assembly worries
More photos
Re: Part quality issues and assembly worries
That is pretty normal, those are bridges and they can't never be perfect so what you see could happen. Happened to me on those pieces and well, with experience you will realize that some things cannot be perfect.
Re: Part quality issues and assembly worries
Don't over think it and as hard as it may be for some of us perfectionist, just get the printer assembled, squared up, calibrate it and go to town reprinting the parts that didn't pass your muster. That is what I am doing. Just completed my first of 2 MK2 Kits yesterday and made a list of parts I wasn't happy with and will be reprinting those with more infill and more perimeters for the parts that take more strain. Enjoy the build and don't worry so much. Tinkering and tweaking is half the fun of our hobby....well, at least for me it is. Keeps me out of trouble and out of my wife's hair for a few hours. 😀 😀
Re: Part quality issues and assembly worries
Thank you for your answer scott.w5 and jesus.r2! So today I printed my first Marvin!
Here's a link to my drive folder with pics and vids (sorry the're kinda random) https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B87NCaIF1s_2LTNRa1NzUERMYjA
But it wasn't all rosy. The printer would not calibrate at all, according to the manual the error "consult the manual" means the points are too far from expected, I started with moving the hotbed belt tensioner, and it barely moved because of the misprinted part but I managed to move the hotbed a tiny bit forward, then I spent almost two hours measuring, tweaking and remeasuring, and everything was very very precise from the start, lines aligned, frame sides were exactly 10cm (within 0.05mm, as my calipers go) . I lost my patience and just turned it of and spent the next half an hour googling and flipping through videos trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
Then I decided "ah f*ck it" and turned it on again and ran the calibration again, and it worked! found the 4 points and then did all the 9, but n the process the LCD clonked out! Went all weird and then blank, so after finishing I turned off the pritner and removed the LCD and kept it off the frame to perhaps reduce interference, ran the calibration again and success! It's perfectly perpendicular! Wait.. what??? So whats up with all the failed calibrations??
And so, after a trouble free live adjusting Z, I ran the Marvin G code and was greeted with the lil' guy!
Also the weird chirping sounds from the PSU when calibrating were freaking me out! (in the vids it can be heard)
And does the search for the points really take so much time and tries? ( also in the vids)
What do you people think about the Marvin quality? is this good or is something still off? (pics in the drive)
Thanks 'yall!! 
EDIT: P.S: any tips to improve quality even more? I like my first Marvin, but I'd love to get it even better! Thanks!!
Re: Part quality issues and assembly worries
saulius, I haven't watched the videos, too many stuff in that folder, but if you say the LCD is behaving strangely and the PSU is making chirp sounds, something is not right. I would recheck all cables to see if there is something badly connected or any cable/connector bent or trapped somewhere.
Re: Part quality issues and assembly worries
Thanks for the suggestion vitor.j,
but everything has been quintuple-checked already 😉
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B87NCaIF1s_2WVlqancxR1NScWM
here is the sound, it happens during printing too, but the video was taken during calibration.
Re: Part quality issues and assembly worries
Have no idea what is that 😯