ANYCUBIC KOBRA 2 ARRIVED

clogging is either not hot enough or the tube is not seated squarely on the bottom and the melted plastic seeps through . also dirty filament or damp filament will do the same thing. keep dry and make sure that tube is cut square and seated good. for dust there are files to print that have a piece of foam or something clamped to the filament before it goes in the extruder.....bad nozzle will clog as well. in my experience at least.....

 

Thanks Sidney. The temp is 200 but now I have bigger problems.

I was auto leveling my Kobra but somehow some stray filament was stuck between the work surface and the bed. The auto leveling went fine except the nozzle pushed into the surface in the problem spot and sent my Z out of whack. Now I cannot get the Z reset because every time you start the auto level the head wants to re-home which starts with a Z offset touch before moving to the sensor to set the Z height. I am getting a serious crash into the plate at this point. I tried to manually set the Z on the Kobra 2, but I am not seeing a solution. I have contacted Anycubic and hoping for a response soon.

 

I recently was visiting my nephew and his son. They had bought the son an Ender Neo with 'auto leveling' and he couldn't get it to print right. First I can't see how they call this 'auto-leveling'. The 'auto-leveling' (at least on the Ender and others I've looked at) is no leveling of the bed like you do manually. To me it is a poor attempt to get around actually leveling the bed in the first place and the stigma to having to do that at times.

The 'auto-leveling' actually reads with a sensor how far out of level the bed is and compensates for it by moving the print-head up and down during the print depending on where the print-head is. If the bed is very far out of level it has to compensate a lot and that is what was happening in his case. I manually level the beds on my Enders and have no desire after helping him to add or buy a printer with auto-leveling. I can do it in about 60 seconds and don't have to do it very often. If you have the option of that learn how to do it (lots of videos and I have links) and use it.

What I normally do wasn't going to work on his machine but I found a video...



... that showed how it can be done on the Ender Neo and I've seen other similar ones. The procedure is still basically what I do but takes a lot longer to do working around the 'auto-leveling' feature but worth the time as you should only need to do it once or maybe latter if the springs start to sag.

KWE I'd try doing the method in the video or another that works on the Kobra at this point as I think it would get you around your Z offset problem and also get the bed level.

Anyone that buys an auto-level machine I'd recommend that you go through the effort at least up front to manually level the bed as some of the printers from the factory come way out of level. Once that is done now the auto-level only has to make small adjustments during the print. It fixed my nephew's son's problems and he is getting good prints now. I'll stick with a non-auto-leveling printer for as long as they are available (saves a few bucks also). I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that love them though.

Sumner

 

Thanks Sumner. I cannot auto home because my Z has somehow gone extremely wonky and push's the bed much. much too hard. the nozzle is crashing the plate. I have no way as far as I can see to reset a Z offset so the nozzle can home without crashing. I could post a video of what is happening and show how the process does not seem to allow me to home my machine. The Creality seems to have a bit of a different layout and process for achieving the leveling.

 

OK here is a suggestion and not saying it is the right thing to do not knowing the machine.

First does the printer have leveling springs under the bed? If so you should be able to manually level it if there are also leveling knobs there. If this is the case I might be able to help do that.

With it off the stepper motors should be free on the 3 axis. Move the arm up to raise the Z axis a couple inches or so. Turn the machine on and set the Z axis there for a test. Then work from there with the Z axis. I guess this won't work if the printer moves the Z axis down as soon as it turns on so let us know if it does.

If it homes as soon as it turns on move the arm up as high as sit will go before turning on. Then hopefully you can set the Z axis before it reaches the bed (read the last paragraph below before doing this though).

Then see if you can go from there. Most of these printers have very similar software/hardware. What works on one should work on another....just a different set of commands on the screen maybe. There are some other videos out there on manually leveling an 'auto-leveling' printer before using the auto-leveling.

If the extruder goes down (z motion) as soon as you turn the machine on then look into possible putting the firmware back on. With the newer enders you can download it off of their site onto a blank SD card. Put the card in the printer. Turn it on and it will update the firmware. Maybe that is possible with AnyCubic also.

Sumner

 

Mike, I have tried everything I can think of at this point. I must be missing something. I can get the nozzle to the bed and get paper under it, then I save that position, but it just doesn't work. I recentered over the touch probe and saved that position also, but no luck. I do not like the fact that I do not have a display of my coordinates as I move the head manually. It would be nice to know where my Z is actually sitting when I get paper under the nozzle. Below is a video of the problem. I have been able to get the Z to move the nozzle to the bed as stated.

 

Thanks for the reply and help Mike. I have noticed that the blue light has gone off. Sensor was my first thought. After I cleared the clog, I printed 2 drawers and a clamp and everything was fine, so maybe an interior wire came loose or something fried. It all started as I stated about the PLA being stuck between the work surface and the bed. I have done all I can do as of now. All the plug-in wires are connected, X & Y seem to respond properly. Maybe a new print head will be requested after I speak to Anycubic.

 

may have to disassemble the steppers and move them(turn) to level everything up +or - a few mm's then reconnect it all then try the auto level Z axis that is....
i dont know what that machine looks like so im just quessing here. There also should be a stop switch someplace that may need adjustment.
if i had pics im sure we can solve this. just sounds like it needs recalibrated .......

opps didnt see above post.....

 

OK folks, I have been working with the techs at Anycubic on the Z issue with my Kobra 2. It appears that my proximity switch (sensor) located at the bottom of the print unit is actually working at least the blue light does come on when placing a metal object under it. I was told to lower the sensor, but that proved to be a useless task, as the sensor was already seated as low as it would go. So, the new solution is sending me a new print head, apparently something else is causing the problem and it would require an in-house technician to locate the problem.

I know many people have had good luck with Anycubic and their products, but for me the experience has been a failure. This is my second printer to fail from this company. When I decide to upgrade to a better printer, I will not be purchasing from Anycubic.

 

I didn't use my AnyCubic for a couple years and when I did I didn't get many prints in before having a problem. Ran one Ender 3 for ever before there was a problem and another not too much before it had a problem.

I would and have bought both brands again. All of these printer manufactures seem to be using about the same parts so I'd think problems might occur about the same frequency between the major brands. The one thing that draws me to both brands is the huge following for both out there and all the help, YouTube wise, and otherwise that you can reference in running them, add-ons for them and repairing them.

After being in the computer business for a number of years and motorcycles before that I don't want to be buying the 'newest/greatest' offering out there. I'll buy the generation or so before that after it has been out a while and the price has dropped and hopefully the bugs are out of it and it has that following can can help in many ways.

Sumner

 

That's a prudent way to proceed. It's the same with cars - never buy a new model - or a completely revamped one - in the first year of sale. Wait a year or two until they iron out the bugs. A model that hasn't changed in a while is a good bet - it usually means (nearly) everything has been fixed.

I was thinking of getting a 3D printer for a while, but what's going on here and in general has given me the heebie-jeebies.

 

Mike, I sure hope it's not a motherboard problem. I truly belive that was the issue with the first printer they sent me.

As far as testing the proximity switch, the tech just asked me to wave some metal near the sensor end and watch for the blue light. After that he wanted me to lower the switch to within .100 of the nozzle tip, which I could not do. My calculations tell me I am at approximately .470 of the nozzle tip. Tech said it shouldn't be so. How far does your switch sit from the nozzle tip ?

 

Yes, it was hard for me to get an accurate reading, I was eyeballing with the slide end of my 12" caliper. I am guessing higher than the thickness of a quarter without a doubt.

 

OK, after work I decided to take a serious look at what the problem could be mechanically. I think I have located the issue. There seems to be some PLA caught inside the heating element that will not come out. So far, I have tried everything, but that little piece of PLA is preventing the heating elements shaft from seating properly into the print head. The shaft slips over a blue feed tube, but the tube cannot slip in deep enough because of the PLA clog, this is causing the nozzle tip to seat to far from the proximity switch. I went back and looked at the break down I posted to remove clogged PLA and I could clearly see the difference in the distance of nozzle and proximity switch.

 

Mike I wouldn't necessarily let our problems give you a reason for not considering a printer. Sure there are going to be problems but I've also printed out hundreds of items for the railroad that have paid for the printer many times over. With that in mind these are similar to a paper printer where you load paper, change the ink cartridge and have to deal with an occasional paper jam.

One has to do some learning about how they operate, get familiar with some new software to run them, a larger learning curve if you want to design items yourself and of course routine maintenance and possible repairs or buy new again situations. I'd say that if someone is comfortable tearing their locos down and performing maintenance and/or repairs on them then they are probably a good candidate for owning a 3D printer. If not then it might lead to frustration. We are all different in what we want from the hobby so like other aspects of the hobby 3D printers can be an option for some and probably not for others, nothing wrong with that.

Sumner

 

Mike, I agree with Sumner. Sure, there will be problems but the benefits of making parts truly outweigh these issues. My concern lies in customer service, so far Anycubic had been good with tech support but not so much with returns. As Sumner has previously stated, most of these manufacturers most likely deal with the same suppliers for parts, so the odds are the quality of these machines will remain the same over a spectrum of makers. perhaps better quality will be found in more expensive machines.? I may pull the trigger on a more expensive model after I become extremely proficient with my Kobra 2. I will state that if I spent over 1000.00 on one these printers and still experienced the same issues, I would be very upset. At the price point of the Kobra 2 I truly didn't expect perfection. The benefit of the Kobra breaking down is you get hands on experience with how these machines are put together and operate. the more you tinker the more proficient you become at solving issues.