Hi!
I purchased theAfinibot A2 Delta 3D Printer last year and assembled it as required. It is my first 3D printer so I am very new to how all of it works. Firstly, when assembling it, I noticed that one of the six arms to the extruder was faulty because it was not threaded at one end, so the ball joint was not connected properly, but by using some tape around the metal part, I managed to get it to stay put (however I am not pleased that I had to do this).
For the actual printing, I got it moving by getting the modified version of the Cura software with the auto-levelling, and since then the auto-levelling has been working perfectly. The problem I am now facing is that, when I start a print, the extruder heats up, but stops heating just before it reaches the desired 200°C. I have tried changing the target temperature, but the extruder always stops at a temperature just below whatever the target temperature is set at. I have noticed that when I hold a piece of paper over the fans, it is able to reach the temperature, so I suspect this problem is possibly due to the fans being too powerful for the heating element.
Another problem is that, once I have made the extruder reach its target temperature by holding the paper over them, the motors begin to make a loud noise that I’d describe as a shudder or loud vibration perhaps, and the printer also does not even make the correct movements to begin the print - the extruder just jolts around and stops somewhere in the middle of the print area, quite high above the print bed. I have tried to search to see if others have had this problem, but I cannot find any similar situations.
Has anybody got any answers or suggestions for any of these problems?
Thank you.
Hi,
Can you take pictures of your arms ? We are unsure what would be the issue here.
About the Fan - Are you sure you connected the right fan to the right output ?
dropbox.com/s/1wd8x334gi6bvyw/IMG_20161112_142346.jpg?dl=0
Thank you for your reply earlier. Here is a link to the picture of the arm. All the arms came as one piece, but when I picked this one up while assembling the printer, the metal part with the ball joint fell out. The picture doesn’t capture it, but inside the black tube part, there is no thread for the metal part to stay in so I had to use some plumber’s tape to make it a better friction-fit. It has stated together since then, thankfully.
Regarding the fans, I checked using the video instructions provided and I have connected them correctly. I also tried swapping them over in case they were on opposite sides to what they should be, however the same problem persists. I did also check if the thermistor was loose, but it isn’t so this is not the problem either.
The arm seems to have worn threads, that might be an issue and we can look at sending you a replacement part.
About the temperature, it’s a weird problem. Are you sure you have set everything in your software ? What happen when you set the temperature manually ?
There are usually 2 different temperature to set, the one for the first layers and the one for the other.
Thank you. A new arm would be great.
Wirth regards to the temperature, I am using Cura 15.04, modified so that it has the auto-level feature for this type of printer (this is the software supplied on the SD card that came with the printer). There is only one option for the temperature under the menu option Basic > Speed and Temperature > Printing Temperature. When I set the temperature to 200C, the printer reaches about 198C, then stays at that temperature so does not start printing. When I set the temperature to 205C, it reaches about 203C, and stays the same.
The configuration settings for the extruder on the printer are:
PID Max is 255
DT/PID P is 24
PID I is 0.88
PID D is 80.00
Drive Min is 60
Drive Max is 140
in case these are relevant. Everything in the software settings seems normal as far as I am concerned. Is changing the temperature in Cura what you mean by setting the temperature manually? If not, then I am not too sure on how I would be able to do this.
Thank you for you help.
One question, do you have material running inside the extruder ?
There are not manual mode in Cura but you can install RepetierHost to control it.
Serial has to be set to “250 000”
