Trials and Tribulations with my Da Vinci 1.0 3D Printer

I isolated the problem down to one little part. The glow plug that slides in the brass nozzle part. It has a set screw that when you loosen it just slides out and can be very easily replaced. Now the problem is trying to get xyzprinting to sell me just the glow plug for a lot cheaper price than the whole extruder cost. The pins that are inside the glow plug broke completely off and you can't solder them back on. You have to replace the part. So now my printer is DEAD until I get the glow plug or extruder replaced, which will be NOWHERE near soon enough for me to print the rest of my parts for my Star Lord Costume.

Anyway, here is my infinity orb (or at least just over 3/4 of it) You can see the partial print makes a decent stand. LOL As you can see, I still have a little work to do to it.

http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/...Costume/Infinity orb/DSC_1360_zps28d4f6b0.jpg

http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/...Costume/Infinity orb/DSC_1361_zps0ab52c83.jpg

http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/...Costume/Infinity orb/DSC_1358_zpsca47e08c.jpg

http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/...Costume/Infinity orb/DSC_1359_zps9f4679ae.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry for the double post, but here is the glow plug part I was talking about.

http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/pp242/wadeh13/3D Printer/printer parts/DSC_1363_zps2a5c7bc7.jpg

http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/pp242/wadeh13/3D Printer/printer parts/DSC_1362_zps5d359fec.jpg


Well first off, big kudos for identifying the actual problem. And condolences for it being such a bugger!

This isnt for identifying the problem, but just incase theres a solution out there. And also so that others have multiple points of reference.

The same thread also points towards this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-5pcs-Re...-for-3D-Printer-Prusa-Mendel-US-/161338996750

I'm not certain if this is the solution, and of course you may need to verify Saber. But this almost looks like the solution?? I may be being over hopeful

EDIT: I believe the ebay heat cartridge is 2mm shorter than the xyz one - whether this makes it unfittable, Im unsure, but the below quote seems to negate that worry. It is also 40 watts instead of 35, though electrically this will function fine, it just wont be to "design" spec. I can't say if this will be perfect or not, but this quote seems hopeful

sel1340,
While it probably voids the warranty, I went with these off Ebay "Hot 5pcs Reprap 12V 40W Ceramic Cartridge Heater for 3D Printer Prusa Mendel US".
Doesn't seem to be any issue at all and heats faster than what the Da Vinci 1.0 came with. The only reason I'm posting what the original link looked like is so you can see that they are 40W ones. The wires attached on these were much longer than needed, I just cut them to the length I needed.
 
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Thanks a lot, you just saved me about $85. The only difference is that the Da Vinci one is 35 watts and the ebay one is 40 watts. The temp sensor should still be able to control it at the correct temps though. Also, the DaVinci one stuck out about 2 to 3mm so that should work fine too.

I am so glad you made this thread, it has been very helpful to me and I hope I have been able to help others too with my bad luck. LOL
 
haha, no worries man. It isnt my solution! But it's best we all have the accessibility for these exact situations haha.
 
photo (2).JPG

A puzzle tube from Thingyverse. Turned out well. I didnt sand it down however, and managed to get it stuck fast. Over exerted and snapped it in half. 2.5 hours print. What an idiot I am. But it looked good anyway. And the tolerance for fit was unbelievably fine. Which I think in part is down to the calibration calculator usage, where I set up the printer again.
 
Thanks a lot, you just saved me about $85. The only difference is that the Da Vinci one is 35 watts and the ebay one is 40 watts. The temp sensor should still be able to control it at the correct temps though. Also, the DaVinci one stuck out about 2 to 3mm so that should work fine too.

I am so glad you made this thread, it has been very helpful to me and I hope I have been able to help others too with my bad luck. LOL

Saber, did you have any success with the ebay heat cartridge?
 
So after much testing, my filament is all fine. It was the fact the Da Vinici or mine at least hates a .1 first layer, .3 is gold, which I guess doesn't matter since that part gets removed anyway. ONWARD AND UPWARD!
 
Sorry if it's been mentioned earlier, I'm at work and can't read through all the pages, but has anybody else had a problem where the printer just forgets the placement of the parts and starts a new layer shifted over the side or back? I was printing part of a helmet and it shifted back an inch. Now all of the parts we try to print are shifting to the left varying distances. We've tried rebooting, turning off the printer and letting it cool down, calibrating the axes,etc with no luck.
 
Good News!!! I purchased what I thought was 2 heating elements and ended up with 10. LOL Each order was for 5. I had to make some slight modifications to my printer nozzle part that the heating element slides into. The heating elements I ordered are 40 watt instead of the 35 watt that came with the printer. I used a round file and filed the inside where the element slides into until it fit. Then I noticed that I lost the set screw that holds it in place and of course it was metric and I didn't have any metric set screws on hand. But I did have some brass 8-32 set screws that are just a tad larger than what came with the printer. I drilled and tapped the hole out to a 8-32 and installed the new element. (I did notice that all of the elements were slightly different sizes and some a little misshapen.) I also used a different quick disconnect plug so that it would make a better connection. Now I am printing my first part since installing the heating element and it happens to be the support block that is supposed to fix the "cartridge error" problem. If anyone has any questions about how to replace the heating element feel free to ask. It did save me $85 by not having to buy the whole extruder assembly.
 
Sorry if it's been mentioned earlier, I'm at work and can't read through all the pages, but has anybody else had a problem where the printer just forgets the placement of the parts and starts a new layer shifted over the side or back? I was printing part of a helmet and it shifted back an inch. Now all of the parts we try to print are shifting to the left varying distances. We've tried rebooting, turning off the printer and letting it cool down, calibrating the axes,etc with no luck.

Did you happen to install the new firmware and software? I just installed it and I hope that that isn't what is causing your problem. If you haven't installed the firmware and software, you may want to try and see if that fixes it. The new software has an auto repair feature to it and I have noticed that the printer seems to be acting better than it did before the upgrade.
 
My co-worker has said that updating the firmware or software will cancel out whatever hack he did to use generic filament spools.
 
Unfortunately, no. He's keeping what he did to himself so that he's the only one that can safely make any changes. I'm not sure what it is, just that it's an arduino that plugs in between the printer and the cartridge.
 
Your co-worker sounds like a - I wont say it, as this is a family friendly forum.

http://voltivo.com/blog/da-vinci-reset-eeprom

This isnt the exact link, but it shows the method/idea. And there are sites out there where you can purchase an arduino with the code already on to do the hack.

Btw, I havent updated any firmware. I'll find out what I'm on now, but it is interesting that Saber has noticed improvements? Can you please elaborate saber?
 
I haven't had the chance to do that hack yet, but I was planning on it. Do you have the link for it?

http://www.wctek.com/shop/da-vinci-3d-printer-accessories/15-xyzpro.html This is the one I'm purchasing. Small price to pay to have that kind of control over my printer. I know people have flashed the firmware with Repetier Firmware, but I'd rather not do that. Currently I'm pushing past the default printer temps by using Repetier Host and Slicer and putting into my GCode before I encode it and make it a 3W file.

Well I had my first real mishap though, I set up it up last night to print a bunch of parts for a Hellboy Samaritan and it seemed okay, checked on it after about an hour of printing. Went to bed and woke up to spaghetti. So I think I'm learning less parts = better idea. Even if it means setting up more often to do smaller prints.

Edit: I also haven't updated the firmware yet, I always try and wait on that stuff until I can see if anyone has any problems with it.
 
Wow this thread got active again.

I had extruder issues recently too and I was really worried that I was going to have to replace it. I haven't bothered XYZ with it yet but I determined that it was not the extruder, but the power connector for it that was the culprit. I had noticed previously that it would get really hot (like melting the insulation hot) sometimes and eventually it just gave up, so I replaced it with a pair of wire nuts. So far so good on the printing there.

I also learned quite a bit about adhesion recently after getting my latest shipment of filament in:
1. the glue sucks. use ultra hold hair spray.
2. keep a wet rag handy and clean the bed to a mirror polish at least every other print. I actually want to experiment with a piece of frosted glass for the bed at some point but so far it seems that plastic likes the smooth. If you heat the bed up (sorry if you're not using repetier host yet) the bed is really easy to clean
3. watch the loops as they extrude, and adjust the bed accordingly. too close and the extruder won't be able to push out plastic, too far and the plastic won't stick.
4. different filaments have WILDLY different properties, including adhesion. viscosity, glass transition temp, etc all affect where your bed and extruder need to be set to get good results in general, and if you're not getting good adhesion to the glass chances are you're not getting good adhesion between the layers either.

Hatchbox is my favorite by a longshot for filament lately. Nice cool extrusion temp ~220 and excellent adhesion. I don't even have to use hair spray if the bed is perfectly clean.

As for the loops not extruding right away, that's perfectly normal and is actually why the loops are there to begin with. It's the same reason XYZWare puts that little rectangle down before starting the print. I actually hand wrote some gcode that mimics the cleaning routine and rectangular U shape that I have in my start gcode in slic3r that makes a huge difference.

The clicking sound is the extruder wheel slipping on the filament, and happens when the extruder is clogged or stopped by something (the bed).

Never set your first layer to less than about .25 or so, maybe .2. The truth is the printer probably could start with a .1 layer but you're not going to get good adhesion with such little plastic at a time, you run a huge risk of warping/peeling of the first layer and no matter how much of a nerd you are you're not going to get the bed on this thing calibrated accurately enough to do a first .1 layer. The glass isn't even manufactured to that tolerance.
 
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