Enrageds Hadron Build and random thoughts

[Enraged]

I finished building my Hadron a few days ago, now I am working my way through getting the thing moving.

My setup:
Hadron
Azteeg X1: Panucatt
Wades Reloaded Extruder: Thingiverse
J Head Hot End: Hotends.com
Lava Hot Bed (when it gets here): Buildlog forum
Fancy Lights: Controller and LED Strip
eBay 12V 30A Power Supply: (example link) eBay

The Azteeg X1 is fantastic, it makes everything really easy to wire up. I'm in the midst of setting up the Z axis and extruder, so far the X and Y are working well, and boy does this thing move!

[Enraged]

Got my Hadron running awhile ago, here is a picture of it somewhat fully assembled:

[Enraged]

And as it sits today after attaching the Lava hot bed:

I finally got a successful print, but it has some issues, so I would love some opinions/advise. Here is the 20mm calibration box:

This is with pretty much default Slic3r settings, and I'm using 1.75mm PLA. The box was printed onto blue tape. I think my nozzle settings are wrong though. I ordered a 0.35mm J head, and thought I recieved a 0.50mm, but when I do a free air extrusion, the diameter is around 0.48-0.51, which seems more in the range of a 0.35mm nozzle. The box about was printed with Slic3r set for a 0.5mm nozzle.

[mxk]

If toy are getting free air extrusion in the range you say then you definitely have a 0.35mm nozzle. See http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?263,134103,page=1

[Enraged]

I'm hoping the new settings and the Lava hot bed will help. My two biggest problems all along have been aligning the two sides of the Z axis, and setting my Z zero. Without being able to print an adjustable Z zero block, it's quite difficult to get it set just right, and it also makes leveling the bed that much harder. I'll post some pictures later, but I'm making a temporary Z zero block and a Z axis height jig to hopefully solve the problem. I'll be switching to ACME threaded rod for the Z as well in the near future.

Once the Kickstarter for QU-BD extruder is done, I'll likely be upgrading to an Azteeg X3 to get dual extruders. Link to the Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/qu- ... r-dual-ext

[mxk]

I know what you mean by adjusting the z axis. Luckily I already had a couple printers so could easily make my own adjustable block. PM me with a mailing address and I can send you one.

I've got RAMPS on my Quantum ORD, but I have an Azteeg X1 I intend to put on my oversized ORD bot. I'm also already in on the QU-BD campaign. I'm not sure where they will go just yet, probably on the ORDs.

[WhiteB0rd]

And as it sits today after attaching the Lava hot bed:

2012-06-22 17.41.49.jpg

Just noticed this.... your Y-axis idler is mounted inboard from the end, and with a funky screw arrangement, not the way the design laid it out.

Any particular reason why?


WB

[Enraged]

Yes, my own ineptitude. Or, I like to call it "engineering on the fly".

When I was building the Hadron, I couldn't find a proper measurement for belt length, and I cut the belt too short. I wanted to use the damn thing, so I drilled a hole in the extrusion for clearance of a button head cap screw, and mounted the idler as you see. I was waiting on my Inventables order to arrive, as I ordered 10 feet of belt. It's actually not a big deal yet, it simply limits my Y travel to around 175mm, which won't be a problem until I start trying to print larger objects.

[Enraged]

Here is the original on the left, and the newly printed calibration box using the settings from that link on the right. 0.30mm nozzle setting with 0.2 layer height.

Is the issue cooling? I've got a spare 40mm fan I can hook up, not sure if that would help?

[naPS]

It looks like you've got several things going wrong here.

Measure the cube - what is the width / length of it? Does it come out close to 20mm? Also, what is the height of the cube? It looks like your Z steps per mm might be off by quite a bit.

It also looks like you're not getting nearly enough extrusion out of your hot end. Have you calibrated your extruder to make sure that you are extruding what you think you are? There's so much blank space in your cube that it looks like something could be seriously off there.

When you do free air extrusions, is the extrusion continuous, or does it stutter? You've also got quite a bit of blobbing in there, which means that you're most likely extruding at too high a temperature, although I've seen it happen at too low a temperature as well.