Hi All. My printer has been working flawlessly until last night, at some point it decided to modify the Y coordinates of this print. Any ideas? The model was created in Photoshop and sliced with Cura.
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Asad3D
October 13, 2016, 1:16pm
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What printer are you using @futureicon ?
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cobnut
October 13, 2016, 1:17pm
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Hi @futureicon what printer are you using (it may not be relevant, but it might be, so good to know).
There’s a few things that could cause this. The simplest is a physical jam of some kind on the extruder (for example, if the nozzle got caught on a warped edge) - the printer thinks it’s Y is one place, but it’s actually shifted because of the jam. Then there’s a problem with the Y motor itself, causing the same effect; depending on the printer, this could be voltage, age, or simply a slipping belt, again, knowing which printer this is would help.
Were you printing via an SD card or through USB?
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@cobnut @asad3d The printer is a Monoprice Maker Select. It’s nearly brand new. I’ve been printing on it for about 2 weeks problem free. This was a print from an SD card. Last night it seems we did have some kind of power surge in the house… the lights in my kitchen went out and I found that I’d tripped a breaker, but this was on a different circuit than what the printer was on, and it never lost power. I wonder if there was enough of a surge on that circuit to alter the print.
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Hi @futureicon ,
In my opignion there is 3 possible case when you got a “shiftted” a part during the print :
1 case : The easier
Sometimes we r too empressed to print something, and it’s possible to get some ‘transfert’ problems of your Gcode on you usb key or SD card. When you remove your card/key from your computer and if the Gcode is not completly uploaded, this kind of problems appears.
Just upload again your gcode on your key/card and take your time to let it uploaded until your “slicer’s end upload message”.
2nd case : The méchanical
When you’r 3dprint something with a “traditional” printer, you x/y axis need to be checked (motor / screx drive …) and oiled this a mechanical oil ( as sewing machine oil). It could need to be unjam or simply get it back to it’s normal position.
3nd case : Crash jump
With some gcode, it’s important to add a small vertical lift to avoid the part between every move or material retractation. It’ simply help to avoid the part, or to snatch it from buildplate, burned material on parts…and of course a shiffted layer.
Best regards
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3D printers don’t have any way of knowing absolute coordinates in xy or z after they start. That’s why they run over to the home coordinates at the beginning. They set their zero position at that moment. From then on during the print, they just move from there. So, if something happens, like the head catches on a piece of your print that maybe has warped up, and the gear or belt drive slips a few notches, then it’s off for the rest of the print by that much. Basically, it’s reset its origin position and the rest of the print will be goofed up. No big deal, probably not anything seriously wrong with your printer. Just print it again, maybe have a look and see if maybe it wasn’t adhered to the bed well enough and that was what caused it. All it takes it a tiny little piece sticking up and the head can catch on it.
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