I’ve owned an R1 since Feb 2015. Have yet to get it to complete a print successfully. Halfway through a whistle is as close as it’s gotten, and the verticals walls were rough and thin before it either broke free and became a jumbled mess or the verticals walls broke apart. Yes, I’ve tried a glue stick and hairspray on the base plate to increase adhesion.
Now I have plastic parts starting to break for no reason. The customer care’s response? “We can send you the print files to print replacements”
seriously?
1. Printers never completed a job
2. Printer is broken
and that was the reply??
My answer was, “did you even read the previous emails?”
since July I’ve had no response from them.
the sad part is I really want this printer to work, I’m willing to accept its user error but I can’t see how from my view.
First things first: Are you using their blue plastic they send with the printer? If so that’s garbage. Toss it in the trash and buy some off amazon. I’ve used hatchbox ($20 per spool) with absolutely no issues for about a year now. I had some adhesion issues in the beginning and blue painters tape (the brand with the frog from lowes) is what worked for me. But I turned back to not using anything after I built an enclosure to keep the heat in.
Second: Dont deal with their customer service. They are also garbage. Set up a 1 on 1 session with one of their techs. I recommend Brian as he is the one I have worked the most. They should help you out tremendously.
Lastly: Are you using matterslicer? Cause, you guessed it, also garbage. I had problems all the time with the slicer creating random code that would ruin print after print. Switched to repetier and all that went away immediately. I would recommend switching to repetier or cura. Both are excellent pieces of software but if I have to pick one I recommend repetier as it gives you a lot more options.
I hope this helps. Mainly set up a 1 on 1 meeting with a tech and they’ll get you squared away. You’re outside your 6 month warranty but if you bought it with a credit card your CC Company might extend the warranty automatically for you. Also if you have a paper trail of your communication with robo3d than this is an unresolved issue that started during your warranty and should be covered.
i had to do some tweaking before I got mine to print great. when I received my I was having size issues, for example,
if I printed an object with a height of 13mm it came out 10 or 11mm. After reding the forums I learned that the R1 has new metric
rods, I had to download the firmware for metric rods into the Robo and then it printed the correct size. You will need to see what version of firmware you have (matter control tells you the version) and then check your rods to see if they are metric or standard.
I don’t know that I can help you here but if you send me a message at Richardmonseesatgmail I would be willing to Give you my phone number and see if we can’t find your problem
Where are you located? I use a Robo 3D in my Drafting and Design classroom (located in SW Michigan). I have had some minor issues out of the box, but all printers need to be tweaked to continually get quality prints. Any time I have had an issue, customer support was very helpful. Recently I’ve noticed they have switched to a 24 hour helpdesk. Maybe this has affected the quality of their help… not sure. I have noticed that the prints need to be run slower than most other printers to produce good quality. To get the prints to stick to the bed, I use a glue stick that has purple glue. This glue can be washed off with water. Others use blue painters tape or hairspray. If you are printing in ABS, the best thing to do is mix some scrap ABS and acetone into a solution and paint it on the heated bed and set the bed temp to around 80c - 90c. Also turn off the cooling fan because cooling the print to fast will cause warp.
I have had a lot of clogs… but I found it was from printing at too cool of a temp and from switching back and forth from ABS to PLA. I am currently printing PLA successfully at 215c with a bed temp of 50c. I have added z axis stablizers and a small disc to the bed to make it more stable.
If you would like to contact me with specific questions, or visit my classroom (and bring your printer) for help, you are more than welcome to.
Geoff Makes some pretty good suggestions. The quality of the plastic you are printing with does matter quite a bit, also if you are printing with PLA, make sure to use a oiler with it. Another thing to look out for is cooling, with ABS don’t let it cool down while printing, turn off the cooling fan completely and have the bed as hot as you can make it go. While with PLA you want the cooling always on but a decent hotend temp and bed temp. I’ve found that Aquanet hairspray that comes in a purple can works amazingly. Just spray the bed when the printer is off, let it sit about a hour or an hour and half before printing. It even works for PLA, although I only heat the bed to about 55C with PLA and hairspray.
If you haven’t done it all ready, grease the Z axis rods with white lithium spray or another machine grease. This will reduce friction and will make sure that your printer is moving to the correct height.
One last thing, the little wires that run to the Z-axis stoppers. A red and black wire for each rod that have a plastic casing over there connection to the stoppers. They are badly designed and pop off super easy, I always double check that they are connected properly (red wire on the far left, black on the far right, nothing in the center). If they aren’t it will mess your print up every single time because it won’t know exactly where the bed is.
Geoff, I never tried the thread that came with it. I went straight to hatch box pla right off the bat. I do have a session set up with one of their online techs this afternoon. I’m guessing they’re on pacific time so it’ll be a bit. And I’ve had better success with repetier but it still fails ultimately. And now the PLA won’t extrude and I’ve had to superglue the pully attachments underneath the base plate as both sides are now broken for some reason. Talk about a black cloud.
Richard, I haven’t ruled you out yet. But I am very hesitant with giving out emails & phone numbers online.
But the metric rod thing sounds promising. I’m running version 1.3.1 but can’t tell where it says metric rods with the firmware.
I’m in Texas so sadly that won’t work. If I can get the clog cleared I’ll try a higher temp. I’m at 211 now. I really need an stl file for the various parts of the printer now as its already falling apart
If its your Y-Axis latch that broke, i’ve had the same problem. I printed a few extras after it first happened just incase it happened again. Here is the link to the file from thingiverse Robo 3D Y Axis Cable Tensioner by Fichthorn - Thingiverse 2 .
Sorry to hear your having so many issues. If your PLA is clogged there is the “atomic method” for unclogging it. Some light googling should tell you how. Alternatively you can buy some 1mm thick copper wire from lowes to thread down the hotend to push out the stuck plastic (my method).
In my few emails that went through & back from robo3d they suggested using the allen wrench that came with the system to thread down the port while it’s hot, then let it cool off and remove it to pull out any clogs. This hasn’t worked yet so your method might be a better option.
To clear a clog, bend a paper clip out, heat it until red hot with a lighter, stick it in the topside of the extruder, wait for it to cool, pull it out. This cleared my clog. The other thing to do would be to season the extruder by dipping 3" of the filament in cooking oil.
One of the first things I did was purchase simplfy3d software. The stock software is great for beginners but support options suck support is close to impossible to remove. I also upgraded to e3d extruder and printed a boden direct drive to feed my filimant to extruder rather then use the stock feeder located on the extruder base. All the modifications helped with quality and taught me more about my 3d printer. Also try printing medium and high. Low quality never seems to print properly.
It’s set on medium, and no need to buy software yet as it still just needs a successful print for me to have confidence in upgrading. Trying to clean the head atm via youtube
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?).
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.
Some things I’ve discovered in getting R1 up and running:
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).
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.
Increasing spring pressure helps for PLA. For ABS it might get too squished to move if you put too much force on it.
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…
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.
After every print job, push/pull the Y axis to min/max. Drawer Slides are not good bearings.
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 1
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.
The “z stabilizers” that hold the z rods to the case help a lot.
Put a real fuse in parallel with the thermal fuses on the RAMPS board. PTC fuses suck.
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.
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).
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Try one more thing. Replace the poly fuses with real fuses. I had an Issue with mine shortly after receiving it. The poly fuses would overheat and shut the bed heater and/or the extruder down. I started getting good results when I “temporarily” replaced them with jumper wires. I should replace them with real fuses just never got around to it. Still working good after 100+ prints. I also found rerouting wires to allow better airflow and installing a fan to cool the control boards also helped eliminate issues.
Ive done all of that! i removed the bottom cover and put a 4" fan over the control board, put legs on the corners of the printer to raise it up enough to increase air flow, and it still drops temp! you can watch the hot end temp drop as soon as it starts printing! id live to getit running so i can sell itand get it out of my sight but i cant sell it until i get it working… i called Robo last night to see if they could help and again they had never heard of it and had no clue how to fix it as usual!! id be better stripping all its components and selling the parts
I honestly hope Braydon from Robo reads all these comments and is ashamed of what he has created! I understand products can have bugs from time to time but theres thousands of people that have complaints and nothing is ever done about it!I work quality control for manufacturing facilities and if we had this many issues with our products we would be out of work!! Its sad to have bought something I was so hopeful about since it was made in the USA and stated 24/7 customer support only to find out its a super lemon for almost everyone!!
