Solved Layer Shifting - PLA

[Laserbea4k43]

Hi,
Printing bigger PLA parts always ends badly.
eSun PLA+ 225C/60C
Fan @ 100% after layer 1
I
1st attempt:

2nd attempt (print started out in the middle of the bed):

I'm wondering if my toolhead sees the hole in my PEI and GTFO of Dodge...

Going through the list by @bythorsthunder:
1. Speeds -Check your speeds and accels, especially travels. Limit A and B steppers to 300mm/s and 5k accels for testing. Stealthchop Disabled.
I'm using Ellis' print tuning config as a default. Should I slow it down?


2. Belt Routing -Ensure belts are not touching plastic on the back of the A or B drives. Post a photo if unsure.
Everything looks good here

3. Grubs -Check A and B motor grub screws. Make sure they are tight and on the flats of the motor shaft.
I check this fairly regularly. For SnG, I'll check now. Looks good

4. Belt Tension -Make sure your belts are not too loose or too tight. 110hz on a 150mm length of belt.
I can't seem to measure above 105Hz. Once my belts go tighter, my ipad Air (latest) registers the sound created as something around 30Hz
Maybe I should just plug a condenser mic up and check with that....

5. Stepper Drivers -Ensure heatsinks are installed and you have cooling fans blowing air over the mcu.
Working on the insides and replaced the fan mounts yesterday. This is looking good.

6. Panels -Ensure rear panel has not warped inwards making contact with the belts on the back of the gantry. Check with hot chamber.
There's a 2 or 3 inch wide bubble on my back panel but still plenty of clearance, at least when printing PLA. Will check again the next time I need to close the chamber.

7. Stepper Motors -Set to a reasonable current. 0.8amps-1amp for most common motors.
All motors set to 1A

8. Gantry Check -Disable motors, center the toolhead and push the Y axis towards the back without touching belts or toolhead. Does the X axis move?
No

9. Slicer- Ensure you are not over-extruding. This can cause the nozzle to snag while printing.
Just finished the 2 stage filament flow calibration script in SS

10. Cooling -Corners curling up can also snag the nozzle. Use Z hop if possible.
No curling on the corners, that I can see, but I'm thinking my walls or infill are trouble.
I've set Lift Z to 1 in my filament overrides

11. Linear Rails -Snagging of the carriage while moving on the rail can cause shifts. This can often be heard as loud clicking during rapid toolhead movements or can be felt during manual movements.
There was a weird "snag/bump" on y movement that I was trying to figure out. It prompted me to do a gantry check several times. I didn't find anything, and I don't hear it anymore. It lasted for a day or 2 after I upgraded my rails to install TAP.

 

[NoGuru]

Is this a layer shift?

Pic is pretty dark. The corner is lifting and it have been bumped, but..... it would have bumped it the other way so I don't think its that.
Does the steppes get active cooling? I have seen them skip from over heating. Also what speeds do your run and what are your motor currents? Are the motors getting hot? What motors are they?

 

[Laserbea4k43]

Is this a layer shift?
View attachment 1541
Pic is pretty dark. The corner is lifting and it have been bumped, but..... it would have bumped it the other way so I don't think its that.
Does the steppes get active cooling? I have seen them skip from over heating. Also what speeds do your run and what are your motor currents? Are the motors getting hot? What motors are they?

• My android is easier to work with for sharing photos, but the photo quality sucks. I'll use something else to take pics going forwared(yes, that's layer shift)
• Like, fans on the steppers? No.
• Are these not the speeds you're asking about?
  
• Stepper current is set to 1
• I didn't check/notice if they were getting hot (we are talking about z steppers, right?
• Stepper Online Nema 17s

I'll run a test cube and see if things heat up.

 

[NoGuru]

Those speeds are decent but not crazy fast. Does not have to be Z, the A and B motors could be the issue. 1 is a little height depending on the motors and current. I think default config for 2209's is .8
and that can even be reduced a little. If the cube prints fine, try and reduce the current to like .5 and test. If/when it fails, bump it to .7 and so on. Or you can do the speed test, I think Ellis explains that in his guide.
Just an FYI, I have never tuned my current, I just know what is needed to do it. I do however have a blower fan and shroud on my steppers to keep them cool.

 

[Laserbea4k43]

Thanks, I'll check that out.

 

[Laserbea4k43]

I think default config for 2209's is .8

Oh, right. They are 2209s.
I had them at .8 at some point. Not sure why they're 1 now.
lol that 1mm zhop on my test cube looked hilarious.

 

[Laserbea4k43]

Print just finished.
Motors are just warm, x, y and z.
I'm still going to turn them all down to .8 though, and see what happens.
My new roll of black will be arriving today. I'll report back after it comes.

 

[Laserbea4k43]

wow!!! Z motors are really noisy at .8..

 

[Laserbea4k43]

Different filament brand I've never heard of, but the reviewers love it. Kingroon PLA+
It's not perfect. Also, it's not spaghetti all over my print bed.
Maybe it had a lot to do with the brand... at least not getting along with my print settings.

 

[Laserbea4k43]

Aside from my issues that become more apparent at .4mm layer heights, there's some warping.
This brand recommends a 0-80C bed. I have it set to 60C. Should I bump it up a bit?

 

[Laserbea4k43]

In other news,
If it weren't for that hole in my bed, this'd be a decent first layer.
Overture PLA

 

[NoGuru]

wow!!! Z motors are really noisy at .8..

That's interesting. Only when moving or even while at idle?
Because if it is at idle, you can do a hold current which can be set much lower, like .4 when they are not moving.

 

[Laserbea4k43]

That's interesting. Only when moving or even while at idle?
Because if it is at idle, you can do a hold current which can be set much lower, like .4 when they are not moving.

Only when moving at a certain speed like when moving into position during homi and QGL. Otherwise, the noise is negligible. I’ve noticed the same, but not as loud on my slower, but not slowest perimeters. Slowest setting is silen.

 

[NoGuru]

If it's louder, bump it back to 1 run current and try .5 hold_current

 

[Laserbea4k43]

I’ll try that when the print finishes

 

[RYGRR]

so

I’ll try that when the print finishes

so… what was the solution? i’m having the same issue. my original layer shift was caused by belt slippage from a warped tap r6 carriage, replaced with an r8, still having the same issue and same direction. new belts and ldo motors for a&b in bound, stepperlonline motors are installed right now, stock siboor cnc 350 kit.

 

[Laserbea4k43]

so

so… what was the solution? i’m having the same issue. my original layer shift was caused by belt slippage from a warped tap r6 carriage, replaced with an r8, still having the same issue and same direction. new belts and ldo motors for a&b in bound, stepperlonline motors are installed right now, stock siboor cnc 350 kit.

Not sure why I closed this, at least without a solution. Sorry.
But now, the problem seems to have come back, in another thread....