Failed thus far

[daniel871]

Yeah, my Robo that I bought in April of this year has been dead since July as well, I’ve slowly been replacing the electronic components as they have failed (because naturally the first thing that failed wasn’t covered by the “warranty” so I never bothered with followups–the glass bed was shedding slivers of glass when cooling after a print and I was told that it was due to the print material adhering too hard to the glass rather than flaws in the glass, which was BS). Every time I’d replace a component, another one would die (rotated through all of the stepper motors, then the previously mentioned bed, then the Arduino–not the RAMPS, the Arduino beneath it–now the power supply has died and I’m replacing it).

Overall, my experience with the Robo has been one of “Should have returned it at the very first problem in exchange for another one/a refund” because it seems like once things start to fail it’s like a lemon of a car. It never ends.

[davidred15]

Are you using matter control as the slicer? also i tried a variety of hairspary the best one is aqua net. Since they have the acidic substance in them. Make sure you clean your glass first then use the spray. Regards, David

[Eric_T_Spivey]

Just got off of Skype with the tech at robo… Due to all the issues we’re shipping it back so they can replace parts, clean out the extruder, do some test runs with it to make sure it works. He did admit that they refurbish machines fyi. Not surprised but personally i’d rather have a new one, especially due to the plastic fatigue which is the only reason I can think of for all 3 areas of breakdown. Thanks for everyone’s help so far.

[n23d]

For clearing clogs I use a piece of fine music wire (a 0.010 inch guitar string ) Cut it 6 inches long and put some slight kinks spaced a few mms apart in one end of it. Using manual control raise the printhead up 3 inches or so to give yourself some room. Turn on the extruder heater. Open the clamp and when the temp gets to about 150 pull the filament out. This will remove most of the plastic from the extruder. Trim off the end of the filament back beyond the grooves left from the hobbed bolt and throw it away. Now when the extruder gets to temp 200+ use some needle nose pliers to feed the wire into the nozzle. It may take a bit to get the wire to go in that little hole. Once in use the pliers to push it up until you can grab the wire where it comes out by the hobbed bolt. Now use the pliers to pull the wire through the nozzle. The wire will push any clogs up out of the nozzle and the kinks will kind of sweep any bits of plastic left in the heater block and cold end out. Wait till the wire cools and clean off any plastic bits clinging to it set it aside to use next time. Reinsert the filament and attach the roller clamp with the screws and springs.

[n23d]

Eric,

What slicer program are you using and what are the slicer parameters you are using?

Extruder Temp?

Nozzle Diameter?

Bed temp?

Layer height?

Infill Percent?

Can you attach your G code for review?

Printer setup files?

Pictures of failed Prints?

There are many ways in which prints fail Pictures help.

[daniel871]

I know this may be tricky to figure out, but READ THE THREAD before asking questions that have already been answered multiple times.

[Defyus]

You can also goto a local vapr shop and buy a roll of 30guage kenthal wire.

[n23d]

I did read the thread and re read the thread and what I see is that Eric has not been able to print a good part on his Robo3d machine. He asked Robo for help and got an unsatisfying answer. He has prints that do not stick or have thin weak walls. He has a clogged extruder for which I sent my $0.02 worth of solution which is different than anyone else’s. He also has broken printer parts that he asked for STL files and was provided a link by Vacrin . He got suggestions on better materials sources and contacts and ways to contact Robo tec’s. Robo finally agreed to repair, replace or refurbish the unit and he is shipping it back. As far as I can tell the printed parts quality issue has not been solved. Getting a new machine might do the trick however If it does not then part of the problem may be in the slicer settings. There are many settings in the slicer programs that can affect how well parts stick and how thick and strong the walls of the part turn out. I have had similar issues that Eric is having and found some of them to be slicer settings related. Where in this thread has he answered the above questions about his slicer settings? If there is a different thread related to this one I missed it.

[daniel871]

One of his posts says he used the Medium detail settings in Matter Control, the other says he had slightly better results with RepetierHost but it still ultimately failed.

Slicer settings are largely irrelevant though if he’s still dealing with things like broken Y-belt clips and other parts that were damaged but not obviously broken until closer investigation.

[ProtoPrynt]

For bed adhesion with pla I simply use malt vinegar or cider vinegar to clean the glass, no mess it sticks every time and it smells like fish n chips!

i heat the glass to 60 c and wipe it down with a small amount of vinegar on a lint free face pad, allow about a minute to dry before hitting print.

Aside from parts breaking ( gutted for Ya there) your other issues sound like a partially plugged nozzle… Causing rough weak walls and perimeters, I have found with the cheaper heads from China that the Teflon tape often extends to far into the chamber and little pieces heat up and break off causing minor clogs, I disassemble all new hot ends and generally re do the terrible job they did in the factory.

hopefully you get your machine running

[nandohdez]

Eric, I have a robo rd r1 and yes the first thing that happened to me was the communication between my computer and the printer stops and that gave me half prints. So, I bought a power usb hub (v 3.0) and it work for several months but after a few firmware updates start it again. Now I have a power usb hub (v 2.0) and it works without any issue, I have been printing with it up to 26 hours (http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Port-USB-power-adapter/dp/B00DQFGJR4/ref=sr\_1\_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1442412466&sr=1-3&keywords=usb+power+hub+2.0). Tip: I use simplify 3d as slicer, for me is the best option.

About surface adherence, well my best results have been with blue tape (3m paint stuff) and some hair spray (aquanet). But, to have the best adherence on it you have to do the calibration of the X, Y, Z and the filament extruder and modify your firmware so the steps are the correct ones (http://www.instructables.com/id/Calibrating-your-3D-printer-using-minimal-filament/?ALLSTEPS). Z axis must have an offset value, in simplify3d im using 0.85~0.98 depending on filament and quality (low-high) and you will see better results with time.

When you say about plastic parts breaking I don’t understand what you are talking about, but if those plastics parts aren’t the CASE or Bottom of the case, you can print all the other parts with help of one the many printers in this hub (on ABS material is more strong than PLA). I strongly suggest that you research a lot on youtube about how to replace parts. On electronics I haven’t had any single issue so far, but I believe I haven’t use my printer for more than 500 hours (Does anyone knows how to know the number of hours used?).

Hope this information is helpful.

[thormj]

Oh, and if your vertical walls are wavy, check the tension on X&Y belts. They need to be taught; I used a different zip-tie config than stock so I can tension/retension just by tightening the white zip-tie.

[thormj]

Some things I’ve discovered in getting R1 up and running:

1. The stock extruder has a Teflon bit in it. If you look at it wrong while trying ABS, it will melt (main reason I upgraded to Hexagon).
2. Every extruder can be helped with a bit of HBn or WS2 lube (good for 2 months or until I jam it for a diferent reason. It seems that a number of mfrs don’t have their melt-zones defined well, and this causes the print to start perfectly, then it gets too difficult for the filament to feed and the print gets then as time goes on and then stops. If you pause, pull, cut, and restart the filament it can work longer, but only for 20-120 minutes.
3. Increasing spring pressure helps for PLA. For ABS it might get too squished to move if you put too much force on it.
4. I also had a problem with the stock hobbed bolt. It always filled up with filament parts… I replaced the hobbed bolt and moved to the hexagon at the same time, so…
5. And counter-intuitive, but some HBN or WS2 on the teeth of the bolt helps. On my current bolt, if you don’t lube the teeth, they slowly get filled with plastic. After lubing it, not so much unless a jam happens.
6. After every print job, push/pull the Y axis to min/max. Drawer Slides are not good bearings.
7. I always use nylon with a cold-pull to unclog extruders – even made a g-code routine for it – applicable to anything that uses marlin g-code: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:965194
8. After a clog, *always* pull the hobbed bolt out and brush it off with a wire brush (I use a plumbers thing for copper pipes – nice fine bristles). And always dust the extruder area with a can of air. Then do the cold pull (because the air might have put some garbage down to the extruder.
9. The “z stabilizers” that hold the z rods to the case help a lot.
10. Put a real fuse in parallel with the thermal fuses on the RAMPS board. PTC fuses suck.
11. I drilled the Wade extruder so I could slip a Teflon tube down from the hobbed bolt to the top of the extruder (cut and fit a few times) – all the world of difference when printing flex.
12. I’ve always used hairspray (even on ABS or Nylon. Not quite as good on nylon, but if you put a 5mm brim on it, it will usually hold).
13. Once you’re all done, the most common jams are due to printbed height issues. Check with a dial-gauge and get all 4 corners even.

I finally broke the carriage and the Wade extruder parts (too many prints came loose at high speed I guess); when I left a message about replacement parts, they said it was out of warranty, but I could get replacement parts for $5 each+$5 shipping (done; total $15 thru paypal).

It sounds like your main problems are 1-4. Unfortunately, they’re best remedied by moving to an all metal (Hexagon or, preferably E3Dv6) extruder and replacing the hobbed bolt – not the cheapest upgrades, but well worth it.

[BraydonROBO3D]

Hi Guys,

This is Braydon, CEO of ROBO 3D. I read through this feedback and we want to help anyone with these issues. Eric, if you are outside of the allotted warranty, we can certainly send you a replacement part at cost to help get you up and running. We have made some HUGE improvements to the product even in the past 6 months due to our amazing customer feedback. We just want to create a product that you all can use, make amazing things, and be proud of, and I think we are there-especially with the R1 plus. With that being said, feel free to contact me directly if you need some additional help. I will be happy to right this wrong with you.

Thank you all so much for communicating here and providing this feedback. I have shared the link with my team and we will work our tails off to help!

[Eric_T_Spivey]

Braydon,

Thank you for responding. I have already spoken with one of your service reps. And we have determined that since there are multiple issues at play that I send back the machine to get it overhauled. My concern is it sounded like my machine could have possible been a refurbished machine which concerns me as I paid full price for a new machine, not a used one. If you can double check on this process for me I’d greatly appreciate it. Here is a disposable email address for you to use. Thank you siir.

eric74sp at Geemaily dot com

[BraydonROBO3D]

Ofcourse Eric. I assure you that we would never send a refurbished machine for a brand new model. I will ask my team however to make sure nothing slipped through the cracks. Thank you for making me aware of this. Also, thank you for your business. We will get you up and running shortly so you can 3D Print your heart away.

[Jason_Steinberg]

Just commenting to let you know I share the pain, first one bad out the box, second one bad out the box… come on…

Hope you get/got it running, best im hoping for is to save up for a kit and use what parts I can from this garbage.

[bgrude407]

Well Eric your not alone, I bought my Robo R1 on August 5 2015, and had nothing but issues from the moment I opened the box. Right out of the box it was broken and had to request replacement parts, and when i finally got those mailed to me and started printing I was lucky to get a single print before something else broke. I had the main control board blow out within a few weeks of buying it from overheating, a few broken plastic parts (got the same response to print the replacement parts on a printer that didn’t run). I spent most of my free time on the phone with phone support trying to resolve issue after issue until i just gave up on it all together. In the end I was so furious i was practically in tears with the anger i felt over almost 3 months of fighting this printer (and this wasn’t my first printer i have owned, this was number 3 and had zero issues with the other 2). After 3 months of being angry over all the constant problems I tossed it in a spare room closet and purchased a new printer from another manufacturer, this one has zero plastic parts on it, i made sure that it didn’t unlike the Robo R1. Since changing printers I have had nothing but success and happiness printing parts daily since November. So I feel your pain and just suggest tossing it for something much more reliable and your anger will quickly subside.

[Hilttech]

Sorry for your experience Bryan. Out of curiosity what printer did you switch to. Since CES Robo3d has gone through some restructuring that I am really not a fan of so my next printer will probably be from somewhere else too.

[bgrude407]

I went with the Atom 2.0, its an all metal delta printer and is absolutely amazing! Ive had nothing but perfect prints with stunning quality!! The sad thing is I cant even sell my Robo since again I cant ever get it to work right!! I tried running a print to make sure i could list it for sale and it shut off due to a temperature drop of the hot end after about a minuite of running. So im stuck with a paperweight!