So, just throught I'd post this as a warning. When you get creative and make your own parts, even if they aren't functional parts, be careful.
I built a 2.4 over the summer, and have been having strange issues with bed probing, QGL, etc. Anything that involves moving the gantry up/down very near the bed. Primary symptom - the first probe at any given X/Y coord would always be very different from the others (usually lower by .2 - .4 mm). Additionally, the probe would run along very accuratly for awhile, then jump up/down by that much for a few samples, then jump back to where it started. I tried NUMEROUS schemes to make this go away. I tried an eddy current probe, I built/installed TAP, I tried longer Z moves per sample, I tried shorter. Faster z moves, slower. I tried using way more samples with higher deviation. Nothing made it better.
Until today when I had the sides off my printer. And it went away.
See, when I built my printer, instead of buying acrylic panels, I had some old clear vinyl sheeting from another project. So I made my own crimp-connectors that attached at the corners of the frame and stretched the vinyl across the openings.
Turns out, the corner crimp parts were rubbing VERY slightly on the linear rail carriages. Additionally, I believe the tension in the vinyl itself might have been very slightly warping the frame of the machine.
In any event, they are gone now and I'm printing better than ever. Not sure If I'll just bite the bullet and buy the acrylic pannels for the sides of the machine, or if I'll redesign the vinyl crimps to stand off the frame further or (most likely) just cheap out and install foam core panels.
Anyhow, just thought I'd share in case anybody was amused to enlightened by this.
I built a 2.4 over the summer, and have been having strange issues with bed probing, QGL, etc. Anything that involves moving the gantry up/down very near the bed. Primary symptom - the first probe at any given X/Y coord would always be very different from the others (usually lower by .2 - .4 mm). Additionally, the probe would run along very accuratly for awhile, then jump up/down by that much for a few samples, then jump back to where it started. I tried NUMEROUS schemes to make this go away. I tried an eddy current probe, I built/installed TAP, I tried longer Z moves per sample, I tried shorter. Faster z moves, slower. I tried using way more samples with higher deviation. Nothing made it better.
Until today when I had the sides off my printer. And it went away.
See, when I built my printer, instead of buying acrylic panels, I had some old clear vinyl sheeting from another project. So I made my own crimp-connectors that attached at the corners of the frame and stretched the vinyl across the openings.
Turns out, the corner crimp parts were rubbing VERY slightly on the linear rail carriages. Additionally, I believe the tension in the vinyl itself might have been very slightly warping the frame of the machine.
In any event, they are gone now and I'm printing better than ever. Not sure If I'll just bite the bullet and buy the acrylic pannels for the sides of the machine, or if I'll redesign the vinyl crimps to stand off the frame further or (most likely) just cheap out and install foam core panels.
Anyhow, just thought I'd share in case anybody was amused to enlightened by this.
