I’d rather try replacing the bent parts with straight ones first. When I first built it, I had no money so I was trying to fix everything myself. I’m doing a little better now and can order some new leadscrews.
Mine is the older geeetech aluminum i3
The parts were so bad, I had to replace all the rods with new ones because the machine wouldn’t even move when first built.
Ordered new leadscrews this morning. Should be in Monday.
I’m thinking I’ll print the core in ‘transparent’ filament.
Well now you need to order some rgb leds…
I could have the core light up different shades of green based on the side load on the end mill.
Now you need strain gauges for the spindle mount…
New lead screws came in. I guess the old ones were T8x4. The new ones are T8x2. Some quick math and adjustments of some settings in the firmware and I’m back on track.
Currently printing a 150mmx150mm cylinder in vase mode to make sure it prints all the way up.
I also noticed the old screws were 300mm and I bought 250mm. It’s OK, though. The old ones were designed to go all the way to the top of the machine even though the printer can’t print that high. I should have more than enough length on the lead screws to match the opening on the frame.
Picture cause they’re fun:
Looks to be about half-way through the print of the cylinder. Got a little bit of a band near the bottom, but the rest is looking pretty promising. Here’s hoping the second half of the print goes smoothly.
Well. It made it to 150. I’ll get a better look in the morning and if it looks good, I’ll retry the core.
Took a close up look at the print this morning. It looks pretty good. It was vase mode, so not a lot of random movements.
I loaded up a 3/4 full spool of black and set the printer off on another Core trip.
Looking at the skirt line you could get the nozzle closer to the bed.
The connection of the bottom layers to the hole perimeters could be better as well.
A good or perfect first layer (adhesion) is half the battle.
But good luck on that print!
Yes. I manually adjusted the height while the first layer was printing.
The one test print I did was a little off, so I readjusted. Leveling the printer bed is something that usually takes me a few prints to get right after doing a change to the machine. Then about once a month I have to re-adjust one of the corners.
The center part of the print is squished better than the first few perimeters.
I just went and took a close look at the print. The layers are looking pretty good. I’m back to the Overture black filament that I did most of the machine with. I’m out of the blue stuff.
Having a hard time focusing on work today. I really want this core to finish printing so I can finish building the machine.
Only 6.5 hours into the print. Still showing 16 hours left 
I do have to say the quality of the print is better than I’ve ever had.
I can has core too 
I even took a few minutes to run some of the bearings onto it. The instructions say to use your ratchet to hit the bearings in… I used a small hammer and a block of wood. I hate hitting metal on metal. I almost went to get my gun hammer with the brass/nylon head, but didn’t feel like walking back to the house to get it.
I turned off Octolapse for this print to make sure nothing could interrupt it, so the video of this one may cause seizures in small children.
I’ll be working on finishing up the build this evening after I clean the pool filter. I might even pull the electronics out of the enclosure and try to get everything moving. I’m debating building a better enclosure, so I’d have to remove it all anyways.
Stats from the printing:
S3D’s estimated print time: 130:27
Actual Print time: 123:09:41
Here’s my entire spreadsheet I used to track my progress. The ‘trucks’ file only had one pair of trucks, so it had to be printed twice. For most prints, I loaded up the plate and tried to keep the print jobs similar times. I used the 4 feet and the pipe clamps to test/verify each filament color before starting the longer print jobs.
| 130:27:00 | 123:09:41 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part Name | Qty | Infill | Color | FileName | Estimated Print Time | Actual Print Time | |
| Corner Bottom | 2 | 45% | Blue | corner-bottom | done | 16:53:00 | 16:34:59 |
| Corner Bottom Mirrored | 2 | 45% | Blue | corner-bottom | done | ||
| Corner Top | 2 | 45% | Black | corner-top-j-primo | done | 15:30:00 | 14:32:39 |
| Corner Top Mirrored | 2 | 45% | Black | corner-top-j-primo | done | ||
| Lower Belt | 2 | 45% | Black | lower-belt-tool-mount-endstop | done | 8:14:00 | 7:47:40 |
| Lower Belt Mirrored | 2 | 45% | Black | lower-belt-tool-mount-endstop | done | ||
| Upper Belt | 2 | 45% | Blue | upper-belt-corner-leg-lock | done | 8:44:00 | 8:07:05 |
| Upper Belt Mirrored | 2 | 45% | Blue | upper-belt-corner-leg-lock | done | ||
| Corner Leg Lock | 4 | 45% | Blue | upper-belt-corner-leg-lock | done | ||
| Feet | 4 | 45% | Black | 4-feet-j-primo | done | 11:00:00 | 10:21:30 |
| Wre Darryl | 2 | 45% | Black | clamps-traps-darryls | done | 8:32:00 | 8:04:19 |
| Stop Block | 4 | 45% | Black | lower-belt-tool-mount-endstop | done | ||
| Truck | 2 | 45% | Black | truck-j-primo | done | 16:54:00 | 15:34:57 |
| Truck Mirrored | 2 | 45% | Black | truck-j-primo | done | 16:54:00 | 15:12:39 |
| Truck Clamp | 4 | 45% | Blue | truck-clamp | done | 1:44:00 | 1:44:05 |
| Z Motor | 1 | 45% | Black | z-coupler-j-primo | done | 5:30:00 | 5:09:28 |
| Z Coupler | 1 | 45% | Black | z-coupler-j-primo | done | ||
| Nut Trap | 2 | 45% | Black | clamps-traps-darryls | done | ||
| Upper Tool Plate | 1 | 45% | Black | tool-mount | done | 1:07:00 | 1:12:00 |
| Lower Tool Plate | 1 | 45% | Black | tool-mount | done | ||
| Core Z Clamp 1 | 2 | 45% | Black | clamps-traps-darryls | done | ||
| Core Z Clamp 2 | 2 | 45% | Black | clamps-traps-darryls | done | ||
| Core Clamp | 3 | 45% | Black | clamps-traps-darryls | done | ||
| Core ClampY | 1 | 45% | Black | clamps-traps-darryls | done | ||
| Core | 1 | 70% | Blue | core-reduced | done | 19:25:00 | 18:48:20 |
| dewalt 660 top clamp | 1 | 45% | Black | lower-belt-tool-mount-endstop | done | ||
| dewalt 660 top mount | 1 | 45% | Black | lower-belt-tool-mount-endstop | done | ||
| dewalt 660 bottom clamp | 1 | 45% | Black | lower-belt-tool-mount-endstop | done | ||
| dewalt 660 bottom mount | 1 | 45% | Black | lower-belt-tool-mount-endstop | done |
I’m starting to get frustrated. Not sure if it’s my printer, or just my bad luck.
I got the core built, but neither the X nor the Y rails are ‘tight’ on it. Both of them wobble. Neither of them touch all of the bearings.
I don’t think it’s my parts. If anything, I’d expect them to be a bit on the small side. Every single bolt had to be threaded through the black plastic.
And just to make sure it’s not my pipes:
This sucks.
Okay, have no fear
Your Z axis is tight, meaning your rails and prints are probably fine.
Others have had issues with the gantry clamps.
Start by pulling the gantry rails out. Loosen all 4 gantry clamp bolts in the core.
Make sure the bolts themselves are tight into the gantry clamps, as in, tighten the bolts into the plastic with no nuts.making sure the parts are fully seated. if they are not fully seated they will be way too wide.
Then add the nuts back tightening the pairs a little at a time on each one.
Let me know if that does not work. I have one more idea.
This should have been set before you got to the Z axis.
I see the problem in the video. Your hand keeps pushing it 
I wanted to check how tight the Z axis was on the core before making my post. If the Z axis was loose too, then it could have been the core itself. I took the core back off after making the video to await instructions.
I’m going to heat up some dinner, then go try your suggestion.
