gCreate gMax 1.5 User manual

gMax Printer 1.5 - Quick Start Guide
v1.0–2.18.15
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Summary:
Thisguideshouldbeusedafteryourprinterhasbeensetupandcalibrated.Thismanualcanbeusedas
a“QuickStart”guidetousingtheprinteraswellasarefresheronusingtheprinter.Pleaserefertothe
UserManualforamorein‐depthguidetotheprinter.
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Before Plugging In the Printer...
Aftercompletingthebuild,verifyalltheprinterwiresareproperlypluggedin.Usetheelectronics
wiringdiagraminthebuildmanualtodoublecheckthewires.
1. Alongwithyourkityoushouldhavereceivedasmallplasticknobwhichslipsontothemetal
studontheLCDscreen.Installthisknobontothemetalstud.
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Plug In and Power up
1. Removethepowercordfromthepowersupplyboxandusethecordtoplugthepowersupply
intothewall.
Note:ThepowersupplyisacomputerATXpowersupplyanditwillhave
manyadditionalwirescomingoutoftheback.Thesewiresarenotused
andshouldbetiedandtuckedaway.
2. PressthepowerbuttonlocatedbeneaththeLCDscreentoturnontheprinter.
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3. TheprinterLCDscreenshouldimmediatelyturnonanddisplaytext.Belowisadiagramofwhat
eachportionoftheLCDscreenrepresents.(Thisisfordualextrudersandsingleextrudersetups
willnothavea“Hotend#2”reading):
Note:IfyourLCDscreendisplaysthemessage“MINTEMP”orthe
Hotend“Currenttemp”reads0degrees,donotproceedandcheckthe
connectionofyourthermistors.Refertotheforumformoreinformation
onfixintaMINTEMPerror.


Slicing
1. Wemusttakethe3dmodelofyourchoosingand“slice”itintomanylayers.Eachlayerismade
upofapathfortheextrudertofollow.RefertothemanualorthegCreateYouTubechannelfor
informationandtutorialsonslicing.
Note:Werecommendslic3rforitseaseofuseandconstantupdates.
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2. Slicingyourmodelwillresultinthecreationofagcodefile.
Note:Agcodefileisatextfilefilledwithcommandsusedtorunthe
printer.ItcanbeopenedwithasimpletexteditorsuchasMicrosoft
Notepad.Agcodefileisnotthesameasa3dmodeloran.stlfile.
3. InserttheSDcardsuppliedwithyourprinter,intothecomputerandloadthisfileonthecard.
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4. ProperlyejecttheSDcardfromthecomputer.

Insert Filament Into Extruder
1. Openaspooloffilamentandplaceonfilamentspool
bracketsontopofprinter.Ensurethefilamentunspools
fromthebottom.
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2. Adjustbracketstomatchwidthofspool.Shouldthe
filamentgettangled,thiswillpreventthespoolfromfalling
anditalsoallowsthefilamenttounwindsmoothly.
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3. Everytimeyouinsertfilament,cutendoffilamentatan
angletoproduceacleanend.Itisrecommendedto
straighten4”oftheendofthefilamentbygentlybending
it.Thiswillmakeitmucheasiertoinsertintotheextruder.
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Theseareswingarmsaremadeofcarbonfiber
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4. Pinchtheextruderarmabovethespringand
insertfilamentintotoholeattop.
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5. Slidefilamentinuntilyouseeitenterthetop
ofthehotend.Youmayhavetotwistthe
filamenttogetittoenterproperly.The
filamentshouldslideinveryeasilyalltheway
downuntilitreachesthebrassnozzleatthe
bottomoftheextruder,about4”total.
Twistingthefilamentisthefastestandeasiest
waytoensureitdoesn’tcatchonanything.
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Note:Whenchangingfilamentcolors/types,youmayneedtopurgethe
oldmaterialoutofthenozzle.Whenthenozzleishotandwhile
pinchingtheextruderarm,pushmaterialthroughthenozzletopurge
theoldmaterial.

Choose a File to Print
1. SlidetheSDcard(upside‐down)intotheleftsideoftheLCDscreen.Itslidesinjustbelowthe
circuitboardanditshouldpush‐clickintoplace.Youshouldalsopush‐clickwhenremovingit.
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2. UsingtheLCDscreen,thebottomlineshouldnowsay“CardInserted”.Ifnot,tryremovingthe
SDcardandreinsertingit.
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3. PushintheLCDscreenknob(thisisyouracceptbutton)andscrolldownto“PrintfromSD”and
pushintheknobagain.
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4. Selectthefileyouwishtoprintandpushtheknob.
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Your first Print
1. First,youwillseetheextrudermovetotheleftuntilithitstheleft(x‐axis)endstop.
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2. Secondly,thebedwillmoveforwarduntilithitsthefront(y‐axis)endstop.
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3. Finallythezaxiswillloweruntilithitstheleft(z‐axis)endstopattachedtothealuminumframe.
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Note:Iftheprinterstopsatanyofthesestepsormissestheendstop,
refertothetroubleshootingportionoftheforumforhelp.

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4. Oncetheextruderstops,thisisconsideredtheprinter’s“Home”positionanditwill“re‐home”
everytimeyoustartaprint.
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5. Ifyouareusingthelatestconfigurationfiles,youwillthenseethez‐axislift10mmandstop
whilethehotendstartstoheat.Thiswillpreventthehotendfrommeltingtheacrylicbedasit
heatsup.
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6. Thehotendwillthencontinueheatup,whichyoucanseeontheLCDscreen,untilthecurrent
temperaturereachesthetargettemperature.Ifitdoesn’theatuprefertothetroubleshooting
areaoftheforum.
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7. Theheatwillreachthetargettemperatureafterabout20‐30seconds
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Printing Starts…
1. Theextruderwillthenmovetothecenterofthebedandstartextrudingplastic.
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2. Astheprintbegins,youmayhavetoadjusttheheight
oftheextruderbymanuallyturningBOTHofthez‐axis
motorcouplersclockwisetoraisetheextruder,or
counterclockwisetolowerit.Youcanalsoturnonly
onesidetolevelthex‐axis.
Note:Usingaz‐lift(slic3rsetting)isnotthe
bestwaytozeroinyourz‐axisheight.You
shouldadjustitmanuallytoguaranteefuture
results.
3. Thegoalistomakesuretheplasticisextrudingflaton
thebed.Ifyoucan’tseeanyplasticorthemotoris
skipping(atickingsound),itmaybetooclosetothe
bedinwhichcaseyoushouldraisetheextruder.Look
closelyatthenozzletipasyouturnthemotorstosee
theheightchanges.
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Note:Youmayneedtomanuallyadjustthez‐axiscouplersasyoucontinuetouseyour
printertoensuretheprintstartsoutperfectlyflat.
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First Layer Print Diagram 
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Nozzle is too low
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Nozzleisdraggingonprintbed
andnotallowingthefilament
tobepushedout.Ifthisprint
continuesthebedmaybecome
damaged.
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Solution
Raisethenozzleasoutlined
aboveandmakesuretoturn
thez‐axisscrew(outlined
below)tosetthenewminimum
z‐axisheight.
Nozzle is just right
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Nozzleisslightlyaboveprintbed
allowingfilamenttobeevenly
spreadontothesurface.The
filamentshouldbeaclean
continuouslinethroughoutthe
wholeprint.
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Solution
Nothing.Keepaneyeontheprint
andletiffinish.
Nozzle is too high
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Nozzleistoofarfromprintbed
causingthefilamenttonot
adhereandinsteaditwill
extrudeintotheair.Youwill
eitherseeablobformatthe
tiporstringingintheair.
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Solution
Lowerthenozzleasoutlined
aboveandmakesuretoturn
thez‐axisscrew(outlined
below)tosetthenew
minimumz‐axisheight.
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Next Steps
Ifyourprinterisnewandnotfullycalibratedmakesuretokeepaneyeontheprint.Everyfileyouprint
hasitsowncharacteristicsandsometimesitwillsurpriseyouwhathappens.Alsothebeginningofthe
printiscriticaltothefinalresultsandyoushouldmakesureitadherescorrectly.
Note:Asprintstarts,keepaneyeonthefilamentspooltoensureit
doesnotbindorwraparoundthebrackets.Thisisespeciallytruefor
newspoolsoffilament.
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Adjust Minimum Z-Axis Height
Youshouldalsoadjustthez‐axisendstopscrewtosetthenewzeropoint.Thezeropointisthelowest
pointtheextruderwillgoandthiswillbetheheightinwhichtheprintwillstart.Thisshouldbedone
afteradjustingyourfirstprint.
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Settingthez‐axisscrewshouldbedoneany
timeyouhavetomanuallyadjustthe1
st
layer
height.Raisingorloweringthisscrewwillsetin
thez‐axisheightforyournextprint.
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Note:Thedesignofthex‐axis
mayhavechanged,butthez‐
axisscrewlocationisstillonthe
leftside.
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

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Removing the print. David vs. Goliath
Aftertheprintfinishesyoucanimmediatelypopitoff(unlessit’sverysmallinwhichcaseyoumay
wanttoletitcoolforafewminutes).
Ifthefirstlayerprintedcorrectlyyoushouldseenocurlingandtheprintshouldbeeasytoremove.
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USINGEXTREMECAUTIONtakethesuppliedscraperandgentlytapattheedgesoftheprint.
Wehavefoundthistappingactionismuchsaferandmucheasiertoremoveamodelratherthanpure
bruteforceanditisalsobetterfortheprintbed.Lookforcornersofthemodelandtapthemwiththe
scraperflatonthebed.Afterseveraltapstheprintshouldpopoffthebed.Iftheprinthasalarge
surfaceareaontheprintbeditmaybehardertoremoveandyoumayhavetoslidethescraperbelow
themodel.
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RememberthescraperisverysharpandNEVER
placeyourhandbehindtheareayouare
scraping.Takingafewextrasecondstoremove
themodelismuchbetterthanatriptothe
hospital.
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Oncetheprintisremoved,inspectittoseehowitprintedusingthecurrentsettings.Youcanrecord
whathappenedwitheachprintandovertimeitwillbecomeintuitive.
Iftheprinthasanystringingorglobsstucktothesideyoucancarefullyuseabladetoremovethe
plasticorinsomecasesitjustflakesoff.
Note:Alighterworksgreattoheattheplastictofixanyproblemareas
andtosmoothverysharpedges.Usecautionwhenusingthelighter
becauseparticulatemaystainthemodel.Rememberyoujustwantthe
heatfromtheflamenottheflameitselftotouchthemodel.