Layers Shifting/Don't Move

[mattcwill 0]

I first noticed my layers were shifting too much in the y-axis, as seen here when trying to print the Bezier Heary Bracelet from Thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8521), which can be seen here & here:

 

At first, I thought my right y-axis belt was loose, so I tightened it, but to no avail. Having then noticed my top left screw on my y-axis motor was not completely screwed in, I ended up having to dismount the whole motor before realigning each spacer and screwing the motor back in, making sure to tighten the timing belt. I decided to also take that time to tighten my x-axis timing belt, just in case.

That seemed to make it worse as I now started to see problems in both the x and y direction with my extrusion head stuttering and not moving smoothly. Thinking it was a long pulley issue, I tried loosening and sliding my right y-axis long belt (didn't help), and fiddling with the left y-axis long belt (also didn't help).

For a side by side comparison of what's now occuring, Chopsticks for Kids (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:38421), used to print as this when I first encountered the issue:

before now printing as this:

My extruder is square, so I know that's not the problem. Thoughts?

 

[illuminarti 18]

Make sure that your short belts aren't rubbing on the frame, and are sitting straight in their pulleys. Assuming they are, then it looks like you have loose pulleys. Use a permanent marker to mark the position of each pulley on its shaft, and see which ones are moving as you print.

 

[mattcwill 0]

I moved my short belts off the frame and tightened everything, and it seems to have solved the problem! I'm currently reprinting those chopsticks at 300 microns. My UM is running a bit higher pitched than normal, but I'm going to assume that's because of the decreased layer resolution (it's my first low-res print).

Thanks for the help!

 

[gr5 2,210]

I'm glad you fixed it. This is a common problem. You really have to tighten the hell out of those little tiny set screws. You should have gotten spares in your UM kit. I have heard that the spares are much better quality and if you get slips in the future throw away the old set screws and put in the newer pointier ones.