After several prints of 18 cm in height, I wanted to investigate what the reason was since up to 10-12 cm everything printed perfectly.
Changed nozzle, recalibrated, added supports to keep the piece even more fixed… but nothing doing…
I looked carefully at the nozzle while it was printing and it started to touch the piece causing it to fall and if it did not fall it printed incorrectly.
I understood that the problem was due to the loss of calibration of the Z axis.
So, after stopping one of the corrupted prints, I turned the printer off and on again:
immediately after manually moving the Z axis, the printer realized that the Z axis was not calibrated and asked me to automatically return it to HOME.
After doing this, I restarted the print and everything worked.
Now I think there is a calibration problem at the beginning of the print or at the end of the prints the Z axis is not recalibrated or is there still a firmware problem (01.06.01.02)?.
I await your news on any similar cases had with pieces higher than 10-12 cm.
Hoping that it will also be taken into consideration by the support team to solve the problem
.The printer will always ask for doing the homing procedure if you want to move the Z-axis manually and thus is not an indication of stepper step loss of the Z-axis.
Your 3mf file doesn’t seem to include all the parts that you showed in your photo and my feeling is that your issue gets started by one or more of your parts becoming partially detached from the build plate at that height which then creates a chain reaction with failure thereafter.
Ensure build plate cleanliness, use larger brims with a small gap on parts with small contact areas in relation to height and it is helpful on tall & narrow parts to use tree supports with painted on manual support areas higher up to prevent the parts from swaying and becoming detached.
The file contains the parts in question, the ones in the photos are the ones I didn’t throw away and I was able to take a photo of them.
I followed the process several times (4) and I assure you that the piece didn’t show signs of giving way but rather you could hear a clear “tac” which means that the nozzle was touching the piece for whatever reason.
Regarding the Z calibration, I don’t doubt that it is normal after a Home setting, but it is only after this operation that I was able to print without problems (2 x).
So my assumption is that for whatever reason at a certain height (10-12 cm) the printer loses the Z setting (step-belt-worm screw…?)
Small features being printed rapidly could curl up or leave a little blob sticking out, if it takes long enough for the nozzle to return there, the small blob is hardened and can catch the nozzle…
speed, temperature, part cooling, seam position,…
there’s a setting for z-hop which I believe is only limited at 240 or 250mm normally…
right now printing a ton of pieces that use full build volume (up to 252mm Z) no issues after 50 prints on 2 P1s, one is new other has been used for 700 hours, only had 1 piece failed because of too little supports and steep overhang
Thanks for the reply Any,
I’m sure you can print up to the maximum height, (me after 3000 hours) I also printed several tall pieces.
This problem only occurs now and that’s why I’m looking for others with the same problem or a support to understand the real problem.
The printer failed 4 times while printing the pieces in the photo always at a height of 10-12 cm, a coincidence???
As you can see in the photo, after reinforcing the supports, the piece, even though it was touched, did not fall but printed a mushroom as if the z hop had gone crazy…
Before I had printed 18 cm tall hourglasses and I had the same problem, I had to print them thicker to be able to print them, maybe because with more thickness the z hop did not snap or not…?
or maybe he had also (I don’t remember) calibrated the z hop after doing a z home…
My only comparable experience would be printing cones with a fine tip on the top, when printing 1 top the nozzle moved to much around a small area causing insufficient cooling, so the whole top melted/sagged. Adding a tube like ring around the top of the cone eliminated this - the tube was also funciontal, but moved the nozzle far enough and long enough away for the cone tip to cool down before next layer. Or with smaller cones having 2 printed at once also made the nozzle travel enough for the parts to cool down.
The blob/mushroom on you print seems related, a lot of small features and travel moves where the joint is
Did you print these one at a time or multiple?
Depending on the function of the model a different design approach could also improve printabillity,
Some thoughts:
starting with functionality, I would then base the part around perimeter thickness so multiples of that for wall thickness, bevel sharp corners so the printhead has a curve instead of 90° corner to glide through, instead of a C shape add two 1 perimeter walls so the C becomes O on the outside perimeters, then break away the 1 perimeter walls to open up the part. Use a different joint mechanism that is less complicated to print?
Hard to tell without seeing it print and fail… good luck !
Hi Ajnsan,
thanks for your considerations, I think it is due to the excessive heat of the nozzle as you assumed.
at the beginning I printed 2 pieces at a time (2 failed attempts), then 1 at a time 1 failed attempt.
I reset the z-axis and changed nozzle (1 successful attempt and 1 failed)
Then I reset the z-axis and 1 successful attempt.
They are quite elaborate and large pieces and therefore I have not printed them anymore (4 failed pieces)
now I have printed 2 pieces of 15 cm and everything went well (for superstition I have always done the z-axis in Home)
I will keep you informed if I have news on this matter
When the nozzle lays down the filament it also pulls on the model a little bit. This drag can cause tall, thin models to wobble or tip as the nozzle moves around. If this happens, new filament cannot be laid down in the correct spot on the model.
Your parts are thick enough that I would not have expected this drag to be an issue, but they are also pretty tall.
Studio v1.10 and newer have support improvements that work really well on vertical surfaces. Just manually paint a few spots for tree supports on the sides. These will not actually touch your model, but just stabilize the print and prevent the wobbles. Like this:
I had some cheap ugly PETG that I used to print one of your pieces, and it printed pretty well. This trial does not rule out heat creep as your problem, but it might be worth a try.
