Sudden Change of Offsets

[CTotten 18]

On Friday, I printed a file with 2 materials, and it worked great.  Then I tried to print a different file using 2 materials, and suddenly there is a LARGE offset in the X axis between the two print heads, meaning the Breakaway (core 2) is printing on top of the CPE material (core 1).  The "shift" is close to 0.25 inches in one direction.

I didn't touch the printer settings, in terms of the offsets or calibrations.  I didn't touch the print cores.  The only thing that I did between prints was change from Red CPE to Light Gray CPE.  I aborted the print after I noticed this (about 2 hours in).  I also re-sliced the file, and tried to reprint it, but it was doing the same thing.

 

Has anyone seen this before?  I have had this machine for about 15 months, and an 3E for about 2.5 years, and I have never seen something like this.

I am pretty frustrated by this.  I guess I need to re-do the calibration.

Edited June 2, 2020 by CTotten

[gr5 2,210]

To clarify, you don't state this anywhere but you are talking about an S5, right?

 

Sounds like the calibration data got corrupted.  When you do XY calibration of any given pair of cores, you could write down the values you entered.  That way if it loses this again you can just re-enter those values.  I seem to remember a way to enter the values without actually doing the calibration print.  So for example you might do the calibration print, enter an X and Y offset and then do a print and realize that you need to nudge it another 0.1mm and so it lets you change those values without re-running XY calibration (or it used to allow this anyway).

 

[gr5 2,210]

The other thing is that the separation of cores on the UM3 and S5 are different by about... 1/4 inch.  So is it possible that you sliced for the UM3 and then printed that file on the S5?

 

In addition to the XY calibration values which I think are in steps of 0.1mm and are very close to zero, there is also the default distance between cores stored somewhere.  That plus the calibration value are added together.  Maybe the default distance is messed up (did you upgrade firmware recently?).  I don't know if this default distance is in Cura or if it is in the firmware of the printer.  I can't find it in Cura but it's hard to find settings sometimes if you don't know exactly what they are called.  Or it could be in a cura json file.

[CTotten 18]

7 minutes ago, gr5 said:

The other thing is that the separation of cores on the UM3 and S5 are different by about... 1/4 inch.  So is it possible that you sliced for the UM3 and then printed that file on the S5?

 

In addition to the XY calibration values which I think are in steps of 0.1mm and are very close to zero, there is also the default distance between cores stored somewhere.  That plus the calibration value are added together.  Maybe the default distance is messed up (did you upgrade firmware recently?).  I don't know if this default distance is in Cura or if it is in the firmware of the printer.  I can't find it in Cura but it's hard to find settings sometimes if you don't know exactly what they are called.  Or it could be in a cura json file.

I don't think that is possible.  They are both set up in Cura, so you cannot slice on a 3E and then print to a S5 through Cura (atleast as far as I know).

 

Firmware has not been updated in months.  Printcores have not been changed (or even removed) in months.  Cura has not been updated in months.  Its just odd that this comes out of the blue...

Edited June 2, 2020 by CTotten

[CTotten 18]

I re-did the X/Y calibration, and the settings shown on the display were pretty close.  I maybe had to change them by 0.5 of 1.0.  So that doesn't appear to be it.

I did notice that in the last few days, my Cura was displaying some configuration errors.  So I deleted the installation, re-installed the same Cura, re-imported the file, re-sliced it, and just started the print again.  It will be about 30 minutes or so before I can see if the Breakaway is printing over the base material...

[gr5 2,210]

When I have a bug that I don't understand, it helps a LOT to create a model just to test a specific issue.  Maybe a 1cm by 1cm square that is only 0.4mm thick and suspended on a post 0.3mm off the print bed so you can get answers quickly to "is it fixed now?"