New to 3d printing yet was shocked at how my newly set up printer made wild resonances in both sound and physical motion on a very sturdy surface.
Had a “meltdown” due to the attempt to print too many pieces with only a small plate contact at once and didn’t find until the printhead was a complete mass of white PVA.
I found two things when repairing that I know were present from receipt:
the upper retainer screw for the hotend fan was installed BENEATH the fan itself! I removed the lower screw to release the fan to find the upper screw inserted flush (save its bevel) with the mounting surface. The fan had not popped off the screw due to pressure buildup due to the filament.
Nearly every assembly screw I removed was loose–literally loose. Not lightly torqued. LOOSE!
I have my replacement parts installed (came very fast direct from Bambu) and no more crazy resonances whatsoever either during vibration testing (full or prep) or operation!
My suggestion to new owners is to first assemble and then do research regarding how to replace the nozzle, the heater (hot end),
Then literally remove and replace them all as you look around to see other assembly screws around and inside. Snug everything well and use a good-quality 1mm Allen wrench instead of what comes with the kit!
The difference in noise and vibration in the exact same installation is astounding!
I got “good” tolerances for my first pieces (my own interlocking designs for a mechanical assembly) but oddly inconsistent tolerances.
My first two parts are significantly “cleaner” appearing and more accurate than what came before.
Not long after replacing the hot end and the nozzle I attempted the “auto filament change” for the first time. It failed miserably–I made certain to be present–with the end result a hideously clogged nozzle and a repeated loud clicking noise from the extruder.
After unclogging the nearly brand-new nozzle I decided to install the “hardened” extruder gear that came with the hardened steel 0.4mm nozzle.
The machine sounded better than ever and no longer going into orbit during anti-vibration cancellation (both full and short versions) but I nothing but color changes quickly began to cause a jam and clogged nozzle with nearly every event. Then the extruder motor stopped running.
I’ll disassemble the thing, take it back (this is the only–and I mean only–in-store no-question extended warranty I’ve ever purchased and am very glad otherwise I’d be buying an entire extruder head and still very wary about the build quality of my particular unit.
I now know “routine” disassembly by heart and will ensure that every screw in the extruder and everywhere else I can reasonably access is snugly and appropriately torqued for its size and function.
This time I checked every factory installed assembly screw I could find and knew (without completely disassembling everything) before assembly.
At least six within the printing head were loose. By “loose” I mean either literally loose or significantly less torqued than other fasteners of the same size and same purpose. Nearly every one that is accessed by removing the front cover, extruder action wheel and nozzle were loose while those on the exterior of the print heat were tight–actually too tight in the case of the little piece above the hot head/nozzle assembly. These were the fasteners that ruined the 1.5mm hex wrench supplied with the original the first time I had to loosen them.
I found loose assembly screws throughout the entire machine! Worst by far were at least six of the eight that attach the two Z-axis columns to the base! One of the fasteners that attaches the top support beam between the two Z-axis columns (on the underside) was completely stripped while the other three were quite loose. After determining that they simply screw into plastic I put a touch of superglue gel into the stripped hole and reinserted the fastener.
All of the fasteners attaching the bottom (plastic) base to the unit were nice and secure. They are by the way 2mm, not 1.5 or 3 like all the rest in the machine. Therefore I did not remove them to look inside for additional loose fasteners.
The initial (long) vibration test did not threaten to shake the machine apart as it seemed to do with the first unit. I also noticed significantly less initial motor noise during the motor noise reduction phase. Unlike the first machine I could detect essentially no difference (and the graph effectively confirmed) in noise during the X-axis (print head) phase.
Am still printing the first object. It’s solid PETG that interlocks with other solid parts via grooves and “teeth” so it’s rather challenging and also requires high precision–precision that took a number of experiments to home in on the first machine. Here’s hoping that there is good excellent relative accuracy between these printers.
My only problem is one I had with the first. The automatic filament change process failed. I was watching–just like before. The AMS ran out, the printer became aware, it cut the filament then displayed an error screen with “Unknown Error. Remove Filament” or something like that displayed. After removing the filament and pressing “continue” it did at least transition to the proper spool and continue printing with no further problems.
Idk about the rest of your comment, but the AMS runout failure smells like the infamous taped spool/end of spool issues. When the filament runs out 3 common failure scenarios happen: 1) If there is tape retaining the end of the spool (a birdbrained choice by bambu) it can either hold the filament so tight that the extruder overloads trying to pull it off. 2) that tape can dislodge from the spool and follow the filament into PTFE tubeland and then inevitably gets stuck and overloaded 3) If untaped, the “tagged” folded end of the spool can have trouble unfolding and traveling through the linear PTFE tube, gets overloaded, etc.
Its maybe a bit verboten on the bambulab forum but I dont recommend relying on filament runout continuing when using bambu lab filaments because of the tape. Elegoo doesnt use tape but their tagged folded end jams about 10% of the time for me too. Creality end of roll tends to release nicely, its kinked but theres like 5cm after the kink and it will resolve itself