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Time for new belts?

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 7:58 pm
by cassetti
Last week I was attempting to print a customized lithopane (I had great success printing them on my replicator, wanted to see how the bowden did). However it seems that the new slic3r 0.9.9 is a bit more 'jumpy' with it's pathing than previous versions - this sudden changing of direction has introduced additional stress on my timing belts.

I suspect this rapid movement has lead to several failed prints due to the print head loosing it's position in a print (sometimes it ends up a bit too deep into the print, sometimes it's printing too far above the print). I'm going to attempt some more simple models, but I really think some of my belts have been abused a bit too much.

I don't see much wear and tear, but I have noticed a bit of fuzz around where the belts are making contact with the motor pulley.

Note after leaving the Rostock alone for a few days, I came back today and attempted to compensate for the stress by reducing the non-print move speeds from my previous 150mm/s down to 100mm, but think I should probably drop that down to 75 or 80 for now and see if I encounter the same problem.

Suggestions or thoughts would be much appreciated.

Re: Time for new belts?

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 8:57 pm
by Jimustanguitar
How many hours are on your printer? A set of belts should last a good long time.

Re: Time for new belts?

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:02 pm
by xnaron
Do you have the metal or the plastic pulleys?

Re: Time for new belts?

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:21 pm
by cassetti
Probably 50 to 60 hours print time. I have the older all metal pulleys

Re: Time for new belts?

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:24 pm
by Polygonhell
You only need to replace the belts if they are damaged, it's usually obvious, there are 2 sorts of damage you care about, the teeth being destroyed and the fiberglass inside the belt being broken.