Ok, so Lulzbot got me taken care of with my first issue where my print was severely stuck to the PEI plate. To the point that the print ripped part of the PEI right off! They sent me a whole new bed plate and everything free of charge! ECSTATIC!
So I was doing a 10hour print last night right before I went to bed. I wanted to test how good the Taz 5 would be printing the lightsaber extender part from thishttp://www.thingiverse.com/thing:572485 thingiverse print. I made sure the first few layers were good and headed off to bed.
This morning I went downstairs to find, yet again, a horror on my build plate. This time I’m boggled beyond belief. The build plate had been “torn” into by the nozzle. But here’s the REALLY weird part, where the sheet was torn into, I wasn’t even printing in that area AT ALL. My print was smack dab in the middle of the bed but I have 2 holes to the back and left of where I was printing. The nozzle was a good 1/8" below the bed and the build plate was all the way forward. No scratches from where the holes were created to were to nozzle stopped at. Surprised it didn’t crack the plate too. So tell me, how does a print that was supposed to make a circle, in the center of the build plate and print approximately 50cm high get so off center and end up going DOWN?
Now, the other issue was the right side of the X axis was cockeyed, slanted noticeably lower. Could the motor had jammed thus causing some sort of software malfunction?
It seems all my issues I’ve had have been right after I put it into the enclosure I just made for it. Could the heat had been to much for some of the electronics? According to my temp probe the highest it gets inside is around 110-112*F (not *C). I’d love to know how this happened, what my options are, and how to NOT have this happen again. Now I’m leary about doing any type of print that I can’t stay for the entire duration on. I’ve had prints phail on me, but never like this before (granted I’ve only had the machine 2 weeks). Please help me out guys, I’m bummed beyond recognition.
My guess.
The stepper drivers are getting too hot in the enclosure and cutting back the current they send to the stepper motors, I assume they do that to protect themselves. With the lower currents the motors cannot stay in sync with the step commands sent by the controller so the head moves off and does the damage.
When I placed my Taz in the enclosure I found if the incoming air in to the control box was above about 92-94 degrees the driver chips for the motors started to drop/lose steps. Which will cause the head to go into the surface of the plate.
You said: MatterHackers ABS White
Layer Height 2.00mm
Bottom/Top layers 0
Shells 1
Infill 100%
Bed Temp 115* Extruder Temp 155*
Print Speed 20mm/s
Extruder temperature in C 155 degrees? A miss type?
Are you printing from the SD card or PC via USB? If your computer is online and your printing it might of A went to sleep in the Power Saving mode, or B did a Windows Update while your printing. Yes your enclosure needs to have a fresh air intake for the controller.
You might try opening up the electronics enclosure and ensuring that the heatsinks haven’t fallen off the stepper drivers. I have read of some people having trouble with that. I suspect the enclosure allowing the electronics to heat up is the root cause though. It would be easy enough to test, run a print without the enclosure. You have plenty of good bed surface available, so it should be possible without changing much.
One thing I like about using a Raspberry Pi with octoprint, the time-lapse camera. If I have a print failure, I can look back to see what happened. Thankfully, I’ve never had one quite that bad, but it can be helpful to diagnose issues. It also doesn’t self-update and reboot itself like Windows.
Yes, mistype, extruder temp 255. That print was from the SD card. I have my PC setup where the screen turns off, but everything else stays on, as I’ve printed 24 hour prints via the USB with no issues (pre-enclosure). I will redesign the enclosure with a fan before I get a new sheet of PEI. Thank you for the help. I assume a regular PC fan hooked up to some sort of switch will suffice?
Pardon my ignorance but the controller is the box with all the electronic cables coming out of it, or the LCD screen up top? Just so I know where to put the fan. Or would it be better to route the box outside the enclosure somehow?
I’ve heard a lot about Raspberry Pi, but since I’m still very green in all this I haven’t dove into it much. Thank you for the help. As with everyone else’s suggestion it does seem I overheated the electronics. I appreciate the help!
Yes, the box that has all the cables out of it is the controller box. That is the one that needs cool room air to pull in to cool the stepper drivers and a few other things.
I would check the specs for the stock fan and use that as a reference point. For an enclosure, I would think it would be more important that fresh, cooler air get to the electronics. A short duct to the outside of the enclosure, combined with the existing stock fan would probably be a good place to start. Perhaps a short piece of flex duct for a clothing dryer over the stock fan and out the side of the enclosure…
Someone posted a nice looking duct which allows outside air circulation to the electronics enclosure… Its on thingiverse somewhere but I can’t seem to find it.
So it looks by that design he is using the stock fan already in the control box. No additional fan. I think I will still add a fan to pump more air into the control box. Thank you for the link!!
The duct that is pictured appears to only duct air in. I would think that ducting cool air into the control box as well as ducting the return air back outside the enclosure would help more than an extra fan. The air can only get in as fast as it can get out, and if the exhaust air is traveling through the enclosure then isn’t it doing exactly what the enclosure was meant to prevent?
the theory with the airflow is that the control box produces heat. by keeping positive pressure cool air into the box at a slow enough rate, you are displacing warm air into the enclosure itself, adding to its trapped heat slightly. You can remove the air from the enclosure, but theoretically if you built it right you should get a benefit from venting the warmer air into the enclosure more than you would by removing it. It is a balance though. too much fan will cool the electronics well, but mitigate the benefits of the enclosure in the first place. too little fan and the heated air from the enclosure will backflow though the control box, cooking your electronics.
I think the electronics box is completely enclosed except the front panel and USB. The front panel acts as intake and exhaust… the fan intakes and the air exhausts out the other holes. Venting heat from the electronics box into the enclosure helps to keep the ambient temperature around the print high… which I would think is ideal.
That may be but if it were me I would seal up all leaks from the electronics box, run a duct in and out and keep the electronics as cool as possible. Then if more heat is needed in the enclosure for the print put a few incandescent light bulbs in there to heat things up. Or maybe a few of these http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BC1POKQ?psc=1 to put the heat right where you want it.
