not sure what to calibrate

[justprintit]

Trying to print some tracks, and the holes fail.. ABS, tried different speeds. tempteratures, cooling..
Also, the damage is worse as i print more over a larger area... almost as if end stops are off -- but i checked, and that's not the case.

What is causing this?

Thank you.

[edward]

Hey justprintit.

Just these pictures and your very brief explanation aren't really enough to get a good idea of what is going on in order to make recommendations for help. While "a picture is worth one thousand words," with these printers (and most 3D printers, but Delta's especially) there are so many variables that go into producing a good print that more information is needed.

This community has a lot of knowledge to offer those wanting to learn, but you'll need to make sure you've covered all of the basics.

First, geneb's manual takes you through the necessary procedures step-by-step. You can also go farther...

Have you done a basic Delta calibration, as detailed in this guide?: http://minow.blogspot.com/index.html#49 ... 9571907051

Once the mechanics are calibrated, you need to calibrate your extruder. You can do that my actually measuring the filament and changing the EXTRUDER_STEPS_PER_MM, or you can follow Polygonhell's excellent write up here: http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=1163

Other helpful things are to get a thermocouple and verify your thermistors are accurate. This isn't critical, but sometimes they can be off by more than a few degrees, causing a great deal of headaches when diagnosing print quality problems. There's also a great thread on fans which can make a huge difference in output quality: http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=1584

That said, if you are having trouble printing anywhere other than close to the center of the build area, it probably means that your machine isn't properly calibrated. I'd recommend you carefully go through the setup procedures once again and verify everything. These machines are great, but they do take a good amount of work to get them into tip-top shape, and even the tiniest of adjustments can make all the difference.

Good luck!

[Polygonhell]

The first thing to try is disabling retraction, I find most of these no plastic at the start after a move are related to the extruder skipping on retract/resume. If disabling retraction resolves the issue, it will cause other issues, but you'll know where to start calibrating.

[justprintit]

Hi, thanks for replies!!!

Edward, i tihnk you have a point, I did all of what you posted, but I must have overlookes something,..
will start at square one and check it all over again!!

[edward]

Great! I'm glad to help. After re-reading my post I was afraid I came off as a bit heavy-handed

Polygonhell gives some indirect advice with his statement about the retract setting, something that applies not only to 3D printers/printing but to any troubleshooting process: Make only ONE change at a time and observe the results. When you change several things at one you'll never know which specific one had the greatest effect on the output. I, for one, keep a notebook dedicated to 3D printing nearby at all times, constantly documenting even the smallest changes and later noting what I observed. That's a personal habit, though. I'm constantly tweaking slicing settings and motion parameters to see what happens, learning more with each print. Certainly I recommend everyone does something similar, but each has their own methods. One thing that I'm sure you've already realized is that with these printers especially, there isn't a magic solution for print settings. Everyone's printer is different.

That said, if you are sure that your calibration is good (thus, your printer will be operating more closely to others), let us know a bit more about the issue at hand and I'm sure that if I can't, someone can offer suggestions.

BTW - Welcome to the forums!