Many of the discussions in the Makerbot Operators Google Group involve bad prints due to “missing steps”, overheated stepper motors, and other motion-related maladies. The proposed cures generally don’t address the real problem, which has nothing to do with slipping belts, inadequate motor current, or general hygene.
The problem is rod alignment, which is not guaranteed by the laser-cut plywood frame.
The Thing-O-Matic guides all its moving parts with bronze bushings sliding on polished steel rods to ensure low friction and exceedingly long life. Unfortunately, you can easily assemble a TOM with X and Z (and sometimes Y) stages you can barely push by hand: I’ve done it!
The symptoms involve the actual position gradually departing from the commanded position: a G0 X10 Y20 command might actually put the extrusion nozzle at X=9.9 Y=20. That error produces a small offset along the X axis that gets worse on successive layers and eventually causes the object to resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The TOM can’t correct the error, because it doesn’t know where the stage actually stops after a command: the steppers run open-loop.
This can’t be due to a slipping belt, because a toothed timing belt can only skip by multiples of the tooth pitch: a one-tooth “skip” means a 2 mm positioning error that’s immediately obvious. In any event, if the belts are that loose, you have other problems.
It could be a loose belt drive pulley on the motor shaft, but that will produce random offsets in both directions as the setscrew gradually chews a slot around the motor shaft. If that’s the symptom, fix it now because you won’t be able to get that pulley off after the setscrew finishes raising a burr around the shaft.
The errors generally happen in the X direction because the X stage slides on two rods, each of which is fixed at four places: both ends of the Y stage and both ends of the X stage. The tech term for this is “overconstrained”: two points determine a line, but here we have a line that must pass through four points.
If the rod-to-rod spacing in those four places isn’t exactly equal, then the X stage bushings will bind on the rods. Alas, tolerance creep in the plywood and maybe a bit of off-center sanding when you fitted the bushings into the plywood can produce exactly that situation.
The Y stage doesn’t have this problem, because the right side rides on bushings and the left side rides on three ball bearings, making it not so sensitive to
horizontal misalignments.
Diagnosing this in an assembled Thing-O-Matic presents a major nuisance, but is well worth the effort. Release the X stage drive belt by loosening the X axis motor bolts (or, if you haven’t modified those bolts, by dismounting the idler pulley, which means extracting the whole XY assembly from the TOM and taking it apart) so the carriage can slide without moving the belt and turning the motor.
If you can move the X stage back and forth along the entire length of its travel by pushing gently with one fingertip, it’s all good. Most likely, you must apply far more force than that, as was the case in my TOM after I first assembled it: moving the X stage required quite a shove and it definitely didn’t slide freely.
Fixing this is straightforward, at least with the entire X and Y assembly out of the TOM. There are two steps:
- Align the X stage bushings so the rods move freely
- Align the Y stage mounting points to match the X stage spacing
To begin…
Remove the X stage from the Y stage, then remove the base plate so you can see the inside end of all the bushings. Slide each rod out of one bushing, then try to slide it back. I predict it’ll look something like this:
The rod wants to avoid the hole in the left bushing. Orbit it around in the right-side bushing until it’s well centered on the left bushing. You want it to look like this when it approaches that bushing:
When it’s properly aligned, slide it in. You should then be able to bat the rod back and forth with your fingertips; if it doesn’t slide freely, slide it out of one bushing, apply more wiggly jiggly action, and get it aligned. Bat the rod back and forth a few times to get a feel for free motion, then repeat for the other rod.
About lubrication: the bronze bushings are self-lubricating, but a bit of oil won’t do any harm. Machine oil is good, cooking oil is bad, butter is terrible. If the rods feel nice and slippery, it’s fine.
When both rods slide freely, pop the X stage back into the Y stage. This is actually possible with both rods in the X stage, although now that you know what you’re looking for, you can slide them out, put the X stage inside, then slide the rods back in again. Remember, you want free rod motion within the X stage itself.
With the rod ends captured in the Y stage, put the front end caps on to hold that rod in place. Slide the X carriage to the right end of its travel (hold the loose rear rod!), then push the rear rod out of the one end piece by pushing it into the plywood while supporting the X carriage. Most likely, the rod will go spung a fraction of a millimeter horizontally as it exits the end piece (you control the vertical offset by supporting the carriage).
That’s the rod’s way of telling you that the end hole is in the wrong position. If the rod slides easily in and out of that hole, then it’s all good. If it doesn’t, then sand the offending side of the hole until the rod slides easily into the hole.
I wrapped a length of sandpaper around a brass tube so the sandpaper formed a cylinder nearly the same diameter as the rod, which prevents sanding a notch into the plywood that makes things worse. Remove wood from the side of the hole, not the top or bottom:
When the rod slides freely into the hole with the X stage at that end, slide the stage to the other end and repeat the process. You must do both ends of travel to get all four constraining points lined up properly.
Recheck the rod fit at both ends of travel, then install the end caps.
The X stage should now slide back and forth with just light finger pressure.
If you overdo the sanding, shim the loose side of the hole with aluminum foil and a dab of adhesive. If the rod rattles around, that’s bad; add an all-around shim and put a very thin slice of foam under the end cap to calm it down.
Verily, it is far better to sand a little and check a lot!
You can apply the same process to the Z axis stage and rods. Remove the bolts holding the motor to the top plate, then verify that:
- The Z stage freely slides up and down the rods
- The rods align with their mounting holes with the Z stage each end
Sand the holes for one of the rods to make that answer come out right, too.
Those bronze bushings work wonderfully well, but only when the rods are
exactly parallel and properly spaced.
[This post is a revised, corrected, and expanded version of a comment I posted on the MBO group.]
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 