So I have been looking all over the forums for the FT-5, as well as other printers just to try and find someone else who has had or is having this problem.
Whenever I print anything that has a curved surface, especially circles, the extruder makes some insane clicking, crunching, skipping noises and ends up skipping QUITE a bit. This obviously leads to failed prints and areas where there are just layers missing. Weird thing is, this only happens when moving in arcs, circle, or similar motions.
If moving in straight lines it prints unbelievably well. I can print calibration cubes all day with nearly no issues. But the second I try and print a simple basket or filament guide/filament cleaner, it goes haywire.
My attempts so far:
Hardware - changed the extruder, changed the extruder gear, changed the heat brake from PTFE lined to all metal. Have gone from 1.75 to 2.85 and back several times. I have changed the heating block, the thermistor, the heating cartridge, extruder motor. I have changed it from left hand extruder to right. I have removed the fan and heatsink to see if that was impacting it. I have changed it from E0 to E1. I have switched the actual steppers. I have tuned the steppers all the way down to .5v all the way up to 1.3v to make sure it wasn't a power issue. I have even used sever different sized nozzles. Everything still ends up with a chattering/grinding/miss stepping when printing circles.
Software/Firmware - I used the original setting from the google drive for Configuration.h and configuration_adv.h. I then changed these to the low end
define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {60,60.256,350,90} // default steps per unit for Ultimaker
define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE {200, 200, 5, 15} // (mm/sec)
define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION {1000,1000,100,9000} // X, Y, Z, E maximum start speed for accelerated moves. E default values are good for Skeinforge 40+, for older versions raise them a lot.
define DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 1500 // X, Y, Z and E acceleration in mm/s^2 for printing moves
define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION 1500 // E acceleration in mm/s^2 for retracts
define DEFAULT_TRAVEL_ACCELERATION 1500 // X, Y, Z acceleration in mm/s^2 for travel (non printing) moves
// The speed change that does not require acceleration (i.e. the software might assume it can be done instantaneously)
define DEFAULT_XYJERK 10.0 // (mm/sec)
define DEFAULT_ZJERK 0.2 // (mm/sec)
define DEFAULT_EJERK 3.0 // (mm/sec)
to the high end
// default settings
define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {90,90.256,425,105} // default steps per unit for Ultimaker
define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE {350, 350, 20, 100} // (mm/sec)
define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION {3000,3000,350,10000} // X, Y, Z, E maximum start speed for accelerated moves. E default values are good for Skeinforge 40+, for older versions raise them a lot.
define DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 3000 // X, Y, Z and E acceleration in mm/s^2 for printing moves
define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION 3000 // E acceleration in mm/s^2 for retracts
define DEFAULT_TRAVEL_ACCELERATION 3000 // X, Y, Z acceleration in mm/s^2 for travel (non printing) moves
// The speed change that does not require acceleration (i.e. the software might assume it can be done instantaneously)
define DEFAULT_XYJERK 20.0 // (mm/sec)
define DEFAULT_ZJERK 1.4 // (mm/sec)
define DEFAULT_EJERK 8.0 // (mm/sec)
and have still experienced the exact same problem, but with slightly varying degrees. I am now at a loss. I have no idea what is happening and how to fix this. I have had the FT-5 built for over a month now and am still suffering from this problem so beyond calibration cubes there is nothing I can really print.
ANY HELP WOULD BE SOOOO APPRECIATED. I am really at a loss at this point.
