Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
First of all hi to everyone
As mentioned in the title I had (have) NO experience with 3D printing before getting the MK3S last week as a birthday present (sometimes even "weird" wishes come true by attaching a weblink to a wish list). And to be honest: opening the box was a total desaster and an extremly painful experience. If Mr. Prusa is reading this: please beware your new users of the same negative experience by adding a big warning on the box! What happened? Being proud of the new acquisition the whole Family was "motivated" to be part of the grand box opening and the crowd was "excited" to see what's in this mysterious box Daddy was so proud of. And then the drama began: What is located on top of the box? Right: the HARIBOs!!! Having 4 and 2 year old children, this essential tool disappeared within seconds, followed by my wife to open the bag and giving me the chance to enjoy the rest of the Prusa box on my own. After reading the assembly instructions I was aware that I am not allowed to continue the next steps without this essential tool and I had to reach out to the next Supermarket on a Saturday afternoon for another "bear pack" losing 2 hours of time and figuring out as way to smuggle this new tool to the assembly desk without being recognized by the rest of the crowd at home still "working" on the original Prusa golden bag. 😊
After managing the issue above the rest of the assembly was a great experience (took me overall two days) even for someone totally new in 3D printing and being one of those office guys without magical hands for technical equipment assembly. So a big thank ou for this great experience and the perfect assembly guide - worked like a charm!
Then the exiting moment: power switch on, self test & calibration: what I didn't expect was fact: no error reports, everything worked on the first time and the first print directly from the SD Card delivered together with the printer (the Prusa logo) worked without a Problem. After this success and being proud owner of a silver Prusa logo which didn't cause THAT excitement on family's side, I tried to print the little ship that's on the SD Card to get attention from the kids. And now here's my question:
I printed "Benchy" the little ship after the Prusa logo and everything seemed to be fine until 50% of the print. The printer started in the center of the print area and printed layer by layer without any problems until about 50% of the ship. Then, suddenly the print area moved to the fully Forward position and the print "continued" in the air at the far end of the steel plate, the print area still moving like printing the rest but "just" at the end of the platre instead of the original printing area. Sorry if that sounds confusing but as English is not my mother language and I'm still not used to the technical terms I've some troubles to explain it in a better way. Hope you understand what I mean. Can post a pic of the ship later today if that helps.
Then I tried to print the frog: same problem: everything starts good, after 30% the plate is moved to the front, print continues in the air. Any idea what could cause this problem? As I have really NO idea where to start any comment would be very helpful. Thank you very much in advance for your help and thanks again to Mr. Prusa and his great machine - really enjoyed the build (after my Haribo drama) and what I've seen so far on the Benchy.
BR Andi
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
You were probably too fast when you assembled your printer.
Check that the X and Y belts are properly tensioned according to the instruction manual.
It can also be the X or Y motor pulley that is not properly mounted and slides on the shaft.
Look again at the instruction book how to mount them. It is important that one of the screws sits against the flat surface of the shaft.
Bear MK3 with Bondtech extruder
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
Hi
Thank you very much for your answer - will check again. The pulley should be fine as I paid special attention having one screw on the flat part of the shaft. And from my point of view both belts (Y and X) are pretty tight already. Made the test as mentioned in the manual and the Y-carriage didn't move or create a "wave" on the belt. What seems strange to me is that the printer works fine until a specific point, then suddenly the Y-carriage slides from the center fully forward (where the display sits) on the Y-axis and continues printing like nothing happened.
But will check both of your suggestions again to be sure I haven't made a mistake there. Many thanks again.
BR Andi
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
I've experiences perhaps similar glitches in the system where the printer knows how far the extruder moved but not where it is. The extruder does not go all of the way "home" requiring me to manually move it to the left, as the printer thinks it's at zero. An easy fix but lead to a damaged print board.
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
Did you or have you tried upgrading the firmware? (not sure it will fix the issue.. just a thought though)
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
Will try to update the Firmware this evening but it seems that the most current one is already used. Will double check. Thank you! And as stated by gregory I have the same feeling that the printer is "losing" his "home location". Yesterday I tried to re-calibrate everything (using the assistent) and everything worked fine but when printing the first line, the extruder started to print about 3mm above the steel plate although calibration was correct before. I lowered the extruder by using the push button to -0.950 and after finalizing the square I got the option on the display to redo this line step again. I've Chosen thios step and then the printer tried to start the carriage calibration from the actual position and tried to move the Y-carriage further to the front than it was possible - not such a nice sound when the Motor spins the pulley when the carriage is already at the far end of the frame. Printing started about 1/3 offset (Y-axis) and the extruder was even higher than before (about 5-6mm).
I decided to stop the print immediatly and switched off the printer, checked all the mechanical parts, tightened the Y-belt as it was a little bit loose after the "carriage issue". For me (as total noob) it looks like I have kind of an electronic / software issue and not a mechanical one but could be totally wrong. Anyone with an idea?
My next steps would be trying to update the Firmware, recalibrate again, checking the P.I.N.D.A sensor height again (have done this before my recalibration yesterday also) and try it again. Anything else I can do? OH and after printing the Prusa logo: where should the Extruder be located at the end? Means: should it head to his home position or just stop where it is located when finishing the print? Mine just stops where it is (just curious if this could be a hint for my Problem as well).
BR Andi
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
not such a nice sound when the Motor spins the pulley
This is a clear signal that you have to tighten the belt. The belt must never jump over the teeth of the pulley because it causes the "Layer Shift" that destroys your print (and the printers Home coordinates).
If you do a self test (Calibration / Self test) then you can see if the belt tension is sufficient. You do this in the "Support / Belt status" menu.
The belt tension value should be 240 ±40.
Bear MK3 with Bondtech extruder
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
OK have checked this one: belt Y tension value is 208, belt X tensiuon value is 268, Firmware update was done and successfull, all the calibration was done again and nothing helped - got even worse. Means: now I can't even print the Prusa logo. It starts with the outer line, stops, moves the Extruder to the far left (where the X-axis motor is positioned), starts calibration again, detects a crash (as the Y-axis is in the middle and the carriage is moved to the front) and starts with the outer line again at the end of the steel plate, detecting another crash and asking if I'd like to continue (no, didn't want to try it again). Recalibrated now several times and always the same outcome. Double checked everything, all self tests and calibrations are successfull but when it comes printing something, this weird behavior starts. To be honest: getting a little bit lost as everything looks good so far. Any additional ideas?
BR Andi
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
according to this.. you might have low Y- belt tension. I used this as a guide when tightening my belts and I havent had any issues.
https://github.com/photog0411/Prusa-i3-MK3-Tips-Tricks#tension
The portion im referring to would be this:
"Chris Warkocki, a pretty big name in the Prusa community that I highly respect, suggests about 270 as being a perfect number for belt status. I totally agree with this, 270 gives me the best results. But just be careful about these numbers. Like I said, the numbers reported on the printer aren't totally accurate. Right now my X belt is reporting 266 and my Y belt is reporting 278, but I can feel for sure that my Y belt is actually tighter."
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
OK, adjusted the belt again and started the self test again. Having a new problem: when it comes to the Y-axis self test, the carriage is moving back and forth just 2-3 cm and stops with the message: axis length error Y.
When I try to move the carriage by Hand, I can move it the full distance and there's nothing blocking it. I have nothing changed except tightened the screw for the Y-axis belt two full turns.
BR Andi
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
Turned back the screw 1.5 turns and now self test works but calibration Fails due to "bed calibration point not found". Steel plate is removed, sheet of paper in place. Just by touching this screw I'm getting another error message during calibration every time. That's not logical for me anymore.
BR Andi
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
Turned back the screw 1.5 turns and now self test works
Just by touching this screw I'm getting another error message
What screw are you talking about?
Bear MK3 with Bondtech extruder
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
The M3x30, step 38 of Y-axis Assembly guide (see picture attached)
BR Andi
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
Anyone an idea? Havbe checked everything mentioned above several times but can't get over the calibration error.
BR Andi
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
if the plate move foward then. the Belt carrier is too loose.
unscrew the belt bitting part on the plate carriage. the longer one that have room for screw can move a little bit
actually just pull the bitting belt part closer to the other to tight it
sorry not english speaker.
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
Thank you all for your support. Finally it worked! Solution: I didn't change anything but had to run the XYZ calibration 15 times until it was successful. Have used the same sheet of paper, same room conditions, etc. so no clue why it worked after 14 times failing to find the calibration point and suddenly it was OK. So printer calibration was succesfull at the end.
First testprint (the Z-calibration square from "jeffjordan") failed due to false crash detection and after switching off the crash detection I could print the test square successfull, also the PRUSA logo and now Benchy is ongoing. Will show you the result once it's finished.
Final conclusion: will investigate further but for now it seems to be fine.
BR Andi
RE: Total noobs experience with MK3S & question
OK so here is my benchy - seems I'll have to do a little bit of tuning but doesn't look that bad. What do you think?
BR Andi