Cascade failure
Apologies, I have no idea how else to describe what's going on...
I got my MK3s today, put it together, ran the self-test, and... everything was perfect! XYZ calibration ran perfectly, detected no skew on the printer... updated the firmware to 3.9... got first layer dialed in...
And then problems started happening. First I couldn't get the first layer to stick, then the extruder quit extruding consistently, regularly producing massive balls of goop on the nozzle ...I've checked belt tension, (values are between 240 and 300 for both, as Knowledge Base says they should be), and sometimes the X-axis fails, other times it doesn't and I make no changes to the tension between....
It doesn't look like there are any wire bundles pinched or bumping into anything - I was careful to tighten just enough to restrain, not enough to put serious force on anything.
Just tried running the calibration wizard again and it's
I'm just really not sure what to do asides from stripping the printer down to the frame and rebuilding it, and as it took around twelve hours... I'm hoping someone has an idea that's a little less labor intensive.
Best Answer by Neophyl:
I don't know if it will make any difference in your case but after a firmware update its often needed to factory reset the eeprom and go through the full calibration again. Which is a pain. Once you have done that then take fault finding step by step.
Axis friction - you did lubricate the bearings when you put it together didnt you ? Ignore the bearings are pre lubricated instructions as they are not. They are just filled with a shipping grease to protect them from rust during storage and transport. If you dont clean them out and then pack them with a suitable grease then they can fail in anything from a few days to a few months. Unhook the belts from the motors and move the axis back and forth by hand. You should have silky smooth travel from one side to the other. No sticky spots. If you dont then you have excessive friction. That WILL cause print issues so its best to fix it as soon as you can. Its also possible for the friction to only happen in one direction.
Uneven extrusion - move the extruder up to something like 100mm and start extruding using the lcd menu, make sure the plastic flows out smoothly mid air and isn't curling up as it comes out the nozzle. That would indicate a possible partial clogg. Which can happen from first build if a bit of something made its way into the ptfe tube and has worked its way down. Several cold pulls will usually sort that.
Not sticking to build plate - 2 common problems here, bed cleanliness and z height.
Take the build plate to the sink and using clean paper towels and plain dish soap (fairy/dawn or similar) scrub the plate and then use plenty of HOT water to rinse it clean. Then making sure you only touch the edges to avoid skin oils dry it with more clean paper towels and stick it on your heatbed to bake it dry. This method works better than any other. Once the bed is clean then you can do step 2.
Run the built in z height process once to initialise the eeprom values then run the Jeff Jordan life adjust method. Its much easier and better way to get your live z dialled in correctly. https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/original-prusa-i3-mk3s-mk3-assembly-and-first-prints-troubleshooting/life-adjust-z-my-way/
RE: Cascade failure
I don't know if it will make any difference in your case but after a firmware update its often needed to factory reset the eeprom and go through the full calibration again. Which is a pain. Once you have done that then take fault finding step by step.
Axis friction - you did lubricate the bearings when you put it together didnt you ? Ignore the bearings are pre lubricated instructions as they are not. They are just filled with a shipping grease to protect them from rust during storage and transport. If you dont clean them out and then pack them with a suitable grease then they can fail in anything from a few days to a few months. Unhook the belts from the motors and move the axis back and forth by hand. You should have silky smooth travel from one side to the other. No sticky spots. If you dont then you have excessive friction. That WILL cause print issues so its best to fix it as soon as you can. Its also possible for the friction to only happen in one direction.
Uneven extrusion - move the extruder up to something like 100mm and start extruding using the lcd menu, make sure the plastic flows out smoothly mid air and isn't curling up as it comes out the nozzle. That would indicate a possible partial clogg. Which can happen from first build if a bit of something made its way into the ptfe tube and has worked its way down. Several cold pulls will usually sort that.
Not sticking to build plate - 2 common problems here, bed cleanliness and z height.
Take the build plate to the sink and using clean paper towels and plain dish soap (fairy/dawn or similar) scrub the plate and then use plenty of HOT water to rinse it clean. Then making sure you only touch the edges to avoid skin oils dry it with more clean paper towels and stick it on your heatbed to bake it dry. This method works better than any other. Once the bed is clean then you can do step 2.
Run the built in z height process once to initialise the eeprom values then run the Jeff Jordan life adjust method. Its much easier and better way to get your live z dialled in correctly. https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/original-prusa-i3-mk3s-mk3-assembly-and-first-prints-troubleshooting/life-adjust-z-my-way/
RE: Cascade failure
The axes moved with absolutely no resistance when I assembled (And reassembled after putting the carriage on backwards, whups) the machine.
In mid-air, the filament curls off to the side a little then goes down normally.
RE: Cascade failure
Small update: I've gotten the X-axis ... cooperative, but as I kept moving the belt status for Y up towards the 270 range I've seen works best, it jumped to 25. I'm.... not sure what to do about that.
RE: Cascade failure
@neophyl
Thanks for the help, got things mostly working today, now my only problem is the X motor is... stuttering, for lack of a better term. It's moving back and forth very jerkily, unlike the Y and Z axes, which is making it hard to get the first layer dialed in.
RE: Cascade failure
@daniel-9
One other thing to check...
Loosen the screws holding the x-carriage on the smooth rods. Not much, just enough to release any binding there might be on the bearings.
Good luck