Stretched 'button'?

[janpieter 0]

Does anyone know what's happening here?

The 'button' on the model gets stretched, and a hole in the model causes a long indentation.

The preview in (latest) Cura looks okay though.

 

Would this be hardware-related, something wrong with my printer (belts?) or is this a strange software-glitch?

 

[illuminarti 18]

I would suspect that it's probably a hardware issue - backlash basically. The head is deviating out on each layer to form the button shape, but then not moving all the way back to the original position as it should when it makes the small movement back to the original line.

Check the tension of your belts - especially the short belt for which ever axis the head isn't traveling far enough back along.

 

[janpieter 0]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I just unscrewed both the x- and y-axis motors, pushed them down as hard as I could (sort of) and fastened the screws again. Hope the belts aren't too tight... I will try the print again now.

 

[janpieter 0]

Hmm, now the whole thing is askew... I guess I overdid it on one of the motors. :roll:

Trial & error?

 

[illuminarti 18]

No, slight slipping like that suggests that probably one of your pulleys is slipping and/or the short belt is catching on the wall of the printer. Probably now that the short belts are tighter, they're shifting the pulleys slightly.

Tighten all the set screws really tightly on the pulleys - especially the ones on each end of the short belts for whichever axis is slipping. You might use a permanent marker to mark the pulley and a corresponding spot on the shaft, to you can see if they move independent of one another at all. They must not.

If you got the kit version, then there was probably a spare set of screws included. If you find that the screws in the pulleys can't be tightened enough to fix it in place, try swapping for one of the spare screws. Those are a different profile and can work better sometimes.

 

[janpieter 0]

Thanks for the advice

I couldn't find any loose pulleys, but both short belts were touching the wood (squeeking too). So it put some washers between the motors and the wood. Seems to have helped!

Buttons on testcube look fine now, also the wall-shells and infill are connected better than they were before.

 

Now I'll go try the bigger original print, see if that's okay too