Extruder heights while printing raft?

[Elliott]

Hi,

I'm setting up a print that will just use one filament, but has a thin base so I want to print a raft. So for fun and variety, I'm using the other filament to print the raft.

So - left extruder is plain ol' white PLA, right extruder is 3dPrintLife transparent PLA. Raft will be printed with the left extruder. All seems fine, except that when it's printing the raft, the left extruder is "up" and the right extruder is "down," so the first layer of the raft doesn't settle right on the platform (which can either make it easier to remove, or cause unfortunate bulges and other defects) but more importantly, the right extruder will rake through it while the print heads are traveling, and rip it off the platform (causing the same sorts of issues and/or bonuses).

Is there a setting I'm missing somewhere that tells the printer how to manage extruder height while printing the raft? For my first several prints (I got the printer less than a month ago), when I happened to print rafts they were printed from the right extruder so I don't know if I lucked on a setting at that point and then forgot it, or if the right extruder is always "down" while printing rafts. I would just swap the filaments, but I'm battling another issue of filament jams (https://forum.raise3d.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9575) and it seems that the non-Raise3D filament is less likely to become hosed in the right extruder.

Any thoughts, or links to manuals that I can RTF, would be appreciated!

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Would you like to check the firmware version of your printer? Please make sure that you have updated both RaiseTouch and Motion Board firmwares to be the latest version from here: https://www.raise3d.com/pages/download

How to update RaiseTouch firmware:
https://support.raise3d.com/pro2-series ... ent_id=518
How to update Motion Board firmware
https://support.raise3d.com/pro2-series ... ent_id=519

And here are calibration guides for nozzles:
Nozzle height calibration:
https://support.raise3d.com/pro2-series ... ent_id=223
XY offset:
https://support.raise3d.com/pro2-series ... tent_id=69

And here is a basic guide to start dual-extrusion print:
https://support.raise3d.com/pro2-series ... tent_id=67

[Elliott]

Hi,

Thanks for the response. I have RaiseTouch version 1.2.1.428 and firmware version 0-0-66. I'll step through the setup guides next, though in general I'd say that aside from printing the raft, the extruder heights seem OK. I did have to adjust the print bed height, since it was sloped from front to back when I received the machine.

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Please pay attention to your inactive nozzle being lifted up to switch the active nozzle down during printing or loading filament with the active nozzle.

[crimsonyoshi]

The raft option will be under the support tab of your slice profile. Make sure the support nozzle is set to the correct one (as you have options for left, right or both in a dropdown window)

[Vagulus]

Hi Elliott

My Pro2 (I don't know what printer you use) uses the Left Nozzle as default to print the model. Unless, when you imported your STL into ideaMaker, you specifically assigned the printing of the model to the Right Nozzle that is what will happen. IMHO you are making it hard for yourself.

Change the PLA to the Right and your fancy stuff to the left. Then Edit the Advanced stuff in your template to ensure that the Infill is Left Extruder and the Raft and any Support is Right Extruder. I think that will get you under way.

[Elliott]

Hi,

The raft option will be under the support tab of your slice profile. Make sure the support nozzle is set to the correct one (as you have options for left, right or both in a dropdown window)

On ideaMaker there's a Support tab but also a Platform Additions tab, which refers to the raft; I have the Raft Extruder set as Left Extruder, which is what I would expect:



It certainly prints with the correct extruder, it's just that neither extruder is at the height I would expect while printing it. So I think that setting is correct?

Thanks

[Elliott]

Hi Elliott

My Pro2 (I don't know what printer you use) uses the Left Nozzle as default to print the model. Unless, when you imported your STL into ideaMaker, you specifically assigned the printing of the model to the Right Nozzle that is what will happen. IMHO you are making it hard for yourself.

Change the PLA to the Right and your fancy stuff to the left. Then Edit the Advanced stuff in your template to ensure that the Infill is Left Extruder and the Raft and any Support is Right Extruder. I think that will get you under way.

Hi,

This is a Pro2 also. I did use ideaMaker (the 3.4.0 Beta, maybe I shouldn't be using the beta?) to import the STL file, and at least as far as I can tell, I chose the extruders correctly - it does use the extruders I want to print the raft and model, it's just that while printing the raft, the height of the extruders seems wrong. When the raft is printed and it's time to print the model, the extruders don't have to switch heights and printing proceeds normally. So I feel like it's halfway there. In earlier attempts, when the raft was printed by the right extruder, the printer would raise the left extruder and lower the right extruder to print the raft, then raise the right extruder and lower the left one to print the model. That's the behavior I'm expecting at this point, but instead the left extruder is always "high" and the right extruder is always "low" throughout the entire print.

I can try swapping the filaments, but that sounds like a workaround rather than a solution. Which is to say yes, I'm making it hard for myself ! It seems like I should be able to use either extruder for the raft, and after several failed prints, swapping the transparent PLA to the right extruder (and leaving the doors open and top cover off) seemed to make things work properly so I'm concerned that swapping the filaments will just get me back to my old problem, rather than solving this one.

Thanks

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Whether your two nozzles lifts or moves down when you choose different nozzles to load filament？

[Elliott]

Whether your two nozzles lifts or moves down when you choose different nozzles to load filament？

I tried resetting every default I could find in ideaMaker, including setting both nozzles back to the Raise3D Pro PLA, it did not seem to make a difference.

Then I tried to print the spinner demo, which printed fine the first time I tried it. But - even trying to print that, the nozzles do not adjust in height. So maybe this issue is not specifically printing with rafts, but just nozzle behavior in general. Is there some way to test whether the nozzle height adjustment is working at all? Looking back, I have not seen either one move in at least a few days.

Thanks

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Yes, if you choose one nozzle to load or unload on touchscreen, the active nozzle will be moved down and the inactive one will be lifted up.
So please set a proper temperature and try loading with different nozzles to see whether the nozzles move or not.

[crimsonyoshi]

Hi Elliott

My Pro2 (I don't know what printer you use) uses the Left Nozzle as default to print the model. Unless, when you imported your STL into ideaMaker, you specifically assigned the printing of the model to the Right Nozzle that is what will happen. IMHO you are making it hard for yourself.

Change the PLA to the Right and your fancy stuff to the left. Then Edit the Advanced stuff in your template to ensure that the Infill is Left Extruder and the Raft and any Support is Right Extruder. I think that will get you under way.

Hi,

This is a Pro2 also. I did use ideaMaker (the 3.4.0 Beta, maybe I shouldn't be using the beta?) to import the STL file, and at least as far as I can tell, I chose the extruders correctly - it does use the extruders I want to print the raft and model, it's just that while printing the raft, the height of the extruders seems wrong. When the raft is printed and it's time to print the model, the extruders don't have to switch heights and printing proceeds normally. So I feel like it's halfway there. In earlier attempts, when the raft was printed by the right extruder, the printer would raise the left extruder and lower the right extruder to print the raft, then raise the right extruder and lower the left one to print the model. That's the behavior I'm expecting at this point, but instead the left extruder is always "high" and the right extruder is always "low" throughout the entire print.

I can try swapping the filaments, but that sounds like a workaround rather than a solution. Which is to say yes, I'm making it hard for myself ! It seems like I should be able to use either extruder for the raft, and after several failed prints, swapping the transparent PLA to the right extruder (and leaving the doors open and top cover off) seemed to make things work properly so I'm concerned that swapping the filaments will just get me back to my old problem, rather than solving this one.

Thanks

Ah, I understand now. The nozzles should be switching height every time they change which one is active, regardless of what's being printed (raft, support, model). If they're not switching heights or are being temperamental, then it's possible the wire from the print head through the back of the printer into the power box is faulty. I had to replace both of my wires at different points in time (one for a filament feeder issue and the other for a bad temperature sensor reading). The nozzle up and down was also one of those wires, and I was able to change them manually just by pushing lightly on the old wire at the plugin on the nozzle head. New wire fixed everything though.

If that's what's going on with yours, you'll need to phone technical support and open a ticket. You can also direct them to this thread.

[Elliott]

OK, after poking around a bit the nozzles definitely don't switch heights, ever, and I definitely know they used to so maybe something is unhooked. I'll file a support ticket and see where it goes. Thanks everyone for the tips!

[Sunshine]

I also had an issue with the nozzle lifting system. This is kind of silly when I remember it but you could check it anyway.

If you remove the hot ends, can you move the lifting system? In my case the heat sinks were a tiny bit rotated. This meant that they could not move up and down clearly. This is something that is pretty easy to check as well .