The under-extrusion was killing me...1 year ago, I managed two acceptable prints, afterwards never again. Changed the spring for the Extruder, changed the filaments, the nozzles, calibrated the shit out of it, leveled the whole printer and nothing worked. Then he comes around saying: "Ohhh, your Esteps are wrong, try upping your game!" And now all of a sudden I can print! Thank you!
Your extruder calibration is basically, bad information. You mark the filament at a measured distance greater than 100mm, say 110mm from the spot where is enters the extruder. You then check current steps/mm then multiply this number by 100. Call this number A and write it down. You next heat the hotend to PLA temp and command the machine to extrude 100mm of filament. You measure the actual length of filament extruded and divide A by this number. This new value is your actual steps/mm for your machine, not just an arbitrary number that worked for someone else's machine, or not. It works irregardless of whether you extruder is geared, or brand, or model, or any other aspects, such as a sudden switch in the manufacturers of nema 17 stepper motors installed at the factory. The same technique should be applied to every axis on a new machine as well, as the method of calculations are exactly the same.
Bed shorting: Thank you for this. I didn't know about that. I had one power supply die and Geeetech sent me another one which looked upgraded. I'll be sure to check insulation. I'm going to double insulate it with more Kapton. Bed sticking: I've had lots of issues with black PLA, which just will not stick because it likes to stick to the nozzle instead and just curl up and wrap around it, even after cleaning the nozzle and changing the PLA for brand new. For some reason, even different brands of black PLA do this. I suspect it might be that the black likes to run cooler. White and coloured PLA sticks perfectly, even on a dirty bed that I haven't cleaned at whatever temperature. It's so much more forgiving that I use PLA in the second extruder to get my first layer down and then use the mixer to go back to black. Layer Shift: I've turned my acceleration down to 300. You should also turn down your jerk settings. I've put all the numbers under that menu to half what they were. Before, the machine made aggressive direction changes and sounded horrible when the machine was on a print speed of around 35 (which isn't fast). I was getting prints getting knocked off the bed with big wobbly movements. The table was shaking. Not anymore. I print at a speed of about 45+ now with no aggressive jerking motions. This becomes crucial when doing taller prints as the vertical supporting frame isn't exactly wobble free under stress, and no one likes visible layer lines. This is something I wish I found out when I first got the printer. E-steps: Yes they are wrong. Not just on one extruder either, but also all the motors. Mine was maybe 5% out and it might be different for different people. I tried the e-steps for the extruder but it was way off and I put back to default. To this day I cannot figure out why it works better with the apparent wrong calibration, however the motors all benefited from correct calibration. It becomes vitally important when making machinable parts that need a great degree of accuracy that you expect to be a certain size. I suggest going to an e-steps calibration video to do it properly with a ruler or tape measure. Other: One other issue you haven't mentioned is the wheels on the bed and carriage. After leaving for a few hours they get flat spots where they bed in. When you manually move it you can feel a distinct judder when it lands on it. I have tried all kinds of different tensions, even changing the wheels, same problem. Before I start any print I always just put my finger over a few wheels and turn them without the carriage moving to get the flat spots offset from each wheel. This smooths it out enough so that it isn't an issue.
Hi Calvin, thank you for the tips. I’m new in 3d printing and I’m looking to buy Geeetech A20T or should I get something else ? Thank you for your time and help .
As long as the prints look fine I would not mess with it. You could mark a piece of filament and tell it to move say 10mm and check it moved relatively close to 10mm. Printer companies are notorious for changing things without letting users know so check before you adjust, although you can always revert to the factory default.
Hello I have a geetech e 180. It prints fine for some layers but then it doesn't extrude filament after a few layers. I think that the gears are chomping on my filament and i don't know what to do. please reply and thank you
You know, I've got a Monoprice Maker select (which doesn't let me adjust e-steps) and I had to set my slicer to over-extrude everything by 10 percent to stop under-extrusion. On the CR-10s at work, I have to set the e-steps 10 percent higher than default otherwise they under-extrude. It seems like a common problem with Chinese printers for whatever reason.
I think it is due to a lack of QC on the company end or they are ripping firmware from another machine. Regardless of why it is annoying for new comes to the herd.
@@EmilysElectricOddities honestly I have no clue. I say within 5% margin of error is fine but 20% off (in my cases!) is just way off. I do wonder if they figure the slicer sets it all automatically?
For those wanting to properly calculate the e-steps for their machine, I have included a link to where Matterhackers has a good article on the topic for calculating it. www.matterhackers.com/articles/how-to-calibrate-your-extruder
Really? I looked online through a plastics supplier and it says PEI has good alcohol resistance. Scroll down to page 2. www.professionalplastics.com/professionalplastics/ChemicalResistanceChartofPlastics.pdf
Exactly bro, alcohol resistant…not alcohol proof. over time it does wear down I have 2 glass bed with pei coating and both I have had to replace due ipa wearing the pei down 🤙
The under-extrusion was killing me...1 year ago, I managed two acceptable prints, afterwards never again. Changed the spring for the Extruder, changed the filaments, the nozzles, calibrated the shit out of it, leveled the whole printer and nothing worked. Then he comes around saying: "Ohhh, your Esteps are wrong, try upping your game!" And now all of a sudden I can print!
Thank you!
lol
Your extruder calibration is basically, bad information. You mark the filament at a measured distance greater than 100mm, say 110mm from the spot where is enters the extruder. You then check current steps/mm then multiply this number by 100. Call this number A and write it down. You next heat the hotend to PLA temp and command the machine to extrude 100mm of filament. You measure the actual length of filament extruded and divide A by this number. This new value is your actual steps/mm for your machine, not just an arbitrary number that worked for someone else's machine, or not. It works irregardless of whether you extruder is geared, or brand, or model, or any other aspects, such as a sudden switch in the manufacturers of nema 17 stepper motors installed at the factory. The same technique should be applied to every axis on a new machine as well, as the method of calculations are exactly the same.
you rock I learn so much from your videos and thanks for sharing
Bed shorting: Thank you for this. I didn't know about that. I had one power supply die and Geeetech sent me another one which looked upgraded. I'll be sure to check insulation. I'm going to double insulate it with more Kapton.
Bed sticking: I've had lots of issues with black PLA, which just will not stick because it likes to stick to the nozzle instead and just curl up and wrap around it, even after cleaning the nozzle and changing the PLA for brand new. For some reason, even different brands of black PLA do this. I suspect it might be that the black likes to run cooler. White and coloured PLA sticks perfectly, even on a dirty bed that I haven't cleaned at whatever temperature. It's so much more forgiving that I use PLA in the second extruder to get my first layer down and then use the mixer to go back to black.
Layer Shift: I've turned my acceleration down to 300. You should also turn down your jerk settings. I've put all the numbers under that menu to half what they were. Before, the machine made aggressive direction changes and sounded horrible when the machine was on a print speed of around 35 (which isn't fast). I was getting prints getting knocked off the bed with big wobbly movements. The table was shaking. Not anymore. I print at a speed of about 45+ now with no aggressive jerking motions. This becomes crucial when doing taller prints as the vertical supporting frame isn't exactly wobble free under stress, and no one likes visible layer lines. This is something I wish I found out when I first got the printer.
E-steps: Yes they are wrong. Not just on one extruder either, but also all the motors. Mine was maybe 5% out and it might be different for different people. I tried the e-steps for the extruder but it was way off and I put back to default. To this day I cannot figure out why it works better with the apparent wrong calibration, however the motors all benefited from correct calibration. It becomes vitally important when making machinable parts that need a great degree of accuracy that you expect to be a certain size. I suggest going to an e-steps calibration video to do it properly with a ruler or tape measure.
Other: One other issue you haven't mentioned is the wheels on the bed and carriage. After leaving for a few hours they get flat spots where they bed in. When you manually move it you can feel a distinct judder when it lands on it. I have tried all kinds of different tensions, even changing the wheels, same problem. Before I start any print I always just put my finger over a few wheels and turn them without the carriage moving to get the flat spots offset from each wheel. This smooths it out enough so that it isn't an issue.
Just protect your printing beds undercarriage metal plate with a thick layer of plastic.
Keep up the good work
E-steps like the other steps should be calibrated, not just using your numbers or factory defaults. Other than that you're spot on with your advice.
Thanks Calvin!
Cheers Ron!
Hi Calvin, thank you for the tips. I’m new in 3d printing and I’m looking to buy Geeetech A20T or should I get something else ? Thank you for your time and help .
Thanks for sharing man.
No problem! I hope this can help someone, somehow!
I have an A10M with 3d touch. My e-step is set to 395.00. Should this still be changed to what you recommended?
As long as the prints look fine I would not mess with it. You could mark a piece of filament and tell it to move say 10mm and check it moved relatively close to 10mm. Printer companies are notorious for changing things without letting users know so check before you adjust, although you can always revert to the factory default.
Hello I have a geetech e 180. It prints fine for some layers but then it doesn't extrude filament after a few layers. I think that the gears are chomping on my filament and i don't know what to do. please reply and thank you
You know, I've got a Monoprice Maker select (which doesn't let me adjust e-steps) and I had to set my slicer to over-extrude everything by 10 percent to stop under-extrusion. On the CR-10s at work, I have to set the e-steps 10 percent higher than default otherwise they under-extrude. It seems like a common problem with Chinese printers for whatever reason.
I think it is due to a lack of QC on the company end or they are ripping firmware from another machine. Regardless of why it is annoying for new comes to the herd.
@@MakeItWithCalvin Definitely a lack of QC. But why always under-extrusion? I haven't run into an over-extruding machine yet
@@EmilysElectricOddities honestly I have no clue. I say within 5% margin of error is fine but 20% off (in my cases!) is just way off. I do wonder if they figure the slicer sets it all automatically?
For those wanting to properly calculate the e-steps for their machine, I have included a link to where Matterhackers has a good article on the topic for calculating it. www.matterhackers.com/articles/how-to-calibrate-your-extruder
Do you have a video for when one colour just stops coming through?
Sadly no. I found removing the nozzle and feeding from both sides simultaneously helped. Reality is that style mixing head is not that great.
Conseguir solucionar colocando uma garganta bimetal ❤❤
Ipa removes the pei over time bro
Really? I looked online through a plastics supplier and it says PEI has good alcohol resistance. Scroll down to page 2. www.professionalplastics.com/professionalplastics/ChemicalResistanceChartofPlastics.pdf
Exactly bro, alcohol resistant…not alcohol proof. over time it does wear down I have 2 glass bed with pei coating and both I have had to replace due ipa wearing the pei down 🤙
Think of it like clothes. you get water resistant which you will get wet in over time unlike water proof clothes will keep you dry 🤙