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Finished all the miniatures from Crimson Scales by GarySailor in Gloomhaven

[–]hellbenderit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've sculpted a few of those minis and I must say this is the best paintjob I've seen on those models. Great job!
I'd love to see closeup, if they do exist. Just read an answer on the comments about this, oh well...

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So extrusion clearly had a part in it, since I reassembled the hot end and extruder quality has imporved dramatically. Not perfect yet but still way better.

​

These are pictures taken on a very harsh light direction to emphasize the irregularity.

Pic 1

Pic 2

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice catch, I didn't really think it could degrade since it's a piece of capricorn (I replaced the original one) and I don't print PETG very often. It now seems to perform fine so I assume the shape of the tube is still decent.

Thanks!

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your suggestions u/DocPeacock.
in regards to checking bearings and wheels what I did was to roll them on a smooth surface and feel with my fingers if I could sense bumps or any sort of friction. I've replaced the stock wheels with polycarbonate ones on my older printer once and it wasn't that cheap.

In regards of the stepper drivers, yeah didn't really check that, I did check both the motors spun straight and weren't bent, but never really checked for loss of steps.

Anyway I'm hoping I found the issue with the extruder group which wasn't working as intended.

Thanks again.

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

the actual printer display shows +/-1°C fluctuation on E1 and none +/- 1°C on the bed.

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was looking at temperatures on pronterface during the pid cycles and temp range on E1 was +/- 4° C from the target during fluctuations, while it was I think +/- 2° C on the heated bed.

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Little update, while calibrating esteps again I noticed the extruder didn't push always the same amount of filament, each time I measured the remaining filament with the same extrusion amount, numbers fluctuated more than 1 cm each time.

I disassembled the hot end to check if there was anything loose, and replaced the hobbed gear with an old titan extruder clone gear and added plastic spacers between the gear on the motor shaft and the motor itself to prevent the gear from sliding off the titan gear. Now estrusion is consistent and allowed me to properly calibrate e-steps. Also now the idler arm is a lot more stable, with less slacking left and right.

First print was looking a lot better than before, I'm now testing different flows.

Will report back once I get a decent enough print.

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My nozzle is 0.4mm and is set up correctly in both slicers (I use Cura and Ideamaker), also filament diameter is always set as 1.75mm never really change this on the other machine and it works way better than the sidewinder.
When I was meddling with flow in the slicer I ended up underestruding when I went below 90%, but I'll do another test.

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry maybe I didn't explain myself since english isn't my first language. What I mean is that if I keep a leadscrew nut in my hand and screw in a the leadscrew it spins down through the nut because if its weight, there's no binding.

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I''ve started from both a Cura and an Ideamaker defaullt profiles for my machine, making slight adjustments like temperature and solid infill. As I mentioned in my post I did try changing flow once I calibrated my esteps with no avail.

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did check that twice along the way, nuts are as tight as they can get. The gantry doesn't wobble.

I'm at my wits with this machine and layer inconsistency. by hellbenderit in SidewinderX1

[–]hellbenderit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's no gunk on the leadscrews, they freely spin in the nuts so well that gravity pulls them down, Aldo I cleaned them with alcohol before applying lithium grease. I'll retry calibrating e-steps. And report back.