I had sliced up some prototype anti-backlash nuts, and started them on a long run. When I came in, the FDM was stopped. Turning on the monitor of the sending computer I found:
Blue Screen of Death
At least it was early in the run, so not much material was lost:
Front View
Left View
The support in the small round spring pockets was digging in to the Y- side of the pocket instead of being centered. I used the SSCAL batch program to send a correction to the FDM 1650. I sliced up the two parts and sent to the FDM, rather than doing a whole trayfull.
Front View
Left View
The support was still way off center in Y to the model material.
Off Center Support
Figuring I moved the wrong way with the SSCAL batch file, I did an opposite move of twice the value, and ran two more parts.
I didn’t have time last night to take photos of the results, but a quick look showed the support had moved even farther off center than the first batch!
I wonder if the SSCAL batch file is stripping the minus sign (-) from the value being passed to the FDM?
—-John
sscal isn’t stripping the minus – it’s working exactly as it should! sscal moves the _support_ tip offset, not the model tip – remember when you run a calbox, it’s actually depositing HIPS on top of the ABS, reverse of what a modeling operation is.
Well, wait, I take that back – if you doubled the correction amount and put it in as a negative the second time, you certainly should have seen it come back the other way… Now I’m really confused…
Are you using sscal with the ‘-a’ flag (append value, i.e. relative adjustment), or without the flag (absolute positioning)? I think I may start adjusting mine with absolute coordinates rather than trying to determine if my relative adjustments have been working…
Yes I used -a option will SSCAL….
I’m going to peek at values using Insight, then try SSCAL again, and then see what Insight says the values are (when I get a chance).
—-John
I tried using the Insight Calibration Dialog box again today. I was able to send a number for Y to the FDM & read it back from the control.
Then I realized this was probably in MM units, and that’s how come I didn’t really see any change when I would send 0.03 — or 0.0012 Inches.
I sent 2.0 to the FDM (maybe too much) and the support definately moved! The parts will be done tonight, so if I have a chance, I’ll get in a check them in the morning.
—-John