<p>The image shows that somehow steps in Y direction (under the assumption that you have taken the photograph from the front) are missed. </p>

<p>Missing steps can be caused by too high settings for acceleration and jerk, too much friction on the undercarriage or the belt assembly, undercarriage catching something at a certain point, too less current through the stepper.</p>

<p>You could increase the torque on the stepper by increasing the V<sub>ref</sub> of your stepper driver is you have separate stepper driver modules, or a adjustment screw on the printer controller board. Furthermore reduce the acceleration and jerk settings and check the undercarriage for stick-slip movement by disconnecting the belt, then reconnect the belt and check for friction of the pulleys.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-31T06:15:02.000Z
2018-07-31T06:15:02.000Z
0scar
<p>I recently purchased an FT-5 from Folgertech and finished assembly about a week ago. I have yet to accomplish a successful print. It seems like either the file is not being sliced correctly, or that it is possibly reading the G-code incorrectly. It will lay down the first perimeter layer of the part and then shift down the build plate a few mm in the y-direction, extrude another perimeter layer and then repeat. I have tried printing from an SD and through USB using Cura as the slicing software, with the same results.</p>

<ul>
<li>I have doubled checked the tightness on all of the belts and pulleys</li>
<li>The Y-Driver was bad, initially so I swapped it with the spare on the board and it solved the issue.</li>
<li>I have gone through the entire code on the Marlin V3 Firmware, and everything seems to look as it should.</li>
<li>MKS Gen V 1.4 w/ Arduino Mega 2560</li>
<li>I have tried using Arduino 1.6.5/1.6.6/1.6.7</li>
<li>I calibrated the XYZ steps/mm</li>
</ul>

<p>All of the mechanical movements and offsets seem to be correct. The printer connects to Pronterface without issue. It also homes fine from the machine and USB and moves where it should during these processes. Again, it seems to be that the issue is when it tries to interpret the G-code. I have tried multiple G-code files from different sources as well, still with the same luck.</p>

<p>If anyone has experience with similar issues or can offer any help, it would be greatly appreciated. I have no clue what could be going on!</p>

<p>In red filament is my attempt to print the <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:24238" rel="nofollow noreferrer">5 mm calibration cube</a> this morning, an example of how this calibration cube should look like is seen in the picture with the white calibration cubes.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/5JvVlm.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="5 mm Calibration Cube"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/5JvVlm.jpg" alt="5 mm Calibration Cube" title="5 mm Calibration Cube"></a>  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/aZVk8m.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/aZVk8m.jpg" alt="5 mm Calibration Cube example"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-22T10:26:39.427Z
This smells like skipped steps.
Tom van der Zanden
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-23T15:54:30.943Z
I agree. My next attempt at fixing the issue will be tuning the stepper drivers this weekend. Any other suggestions?
T_Robbins
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-28T04:27:56.140Z
@T_Robbins, did you resolve this?
markshancock
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-30T18:38:49.887Z
I agree this looks like skipped steps along the front-to-back axis in this photo.  The machine is a 2 axis overhead gantry style machine, where the side-to-side inertia is much lower than the front-to-back inertia.  I'd suggest checking the acceleration settings, which could be too high, or could be set for a different architecture machine.
cmm
<g-code><printer-building><electronics><calibration><folgertechft-5>
Folgertech FT-5 : Does not seem to be reading G-Code correctly
T_Robbins
# Folgertech FT-5 : Does not seem to be reading G-Code correctly

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-02-21)

I recently purchased an FT-5 from Folgertech and finished assembly about a week ago. I have yet to accomplish a successful print. It seems like either the file is not being sliced correctly, or that it is possibly reading the G-code incorrectly. It will lay down the first perimeter layer of the part and then shift down the build plate a few mm in the y-direction, extrude another perimeter layer and then repeat. I have tried printing from an SD and through USB using Cura as the slicing software, with the same results.

* I have doubled checked the tightness on all of the belts and pulleys
* The Y-Driver was bad, initially so I swapped it with the spare on the board and it solved the issue.
* I have gone through the entire code on the Marlin V3 Firmware, and everything seems to look as it should.
* MKS Gen V 1.4 w/ Arduino Mega 2560
* I have tried using Arduino 1.6.5/1.6.6/1.6.7
* I calibrated the XYZ steps/mm

All of the mechanical movements and offsets seem to be correct. The printer connects to Pronterface without issue. It also homes fine from the machine and USB and moves where it should during these processes. Again, it seems to be that the issue is when it tries to interpret the G-code. I have tried multiple G-code files from different sources as well, still with the same luck.

If anyone has experience with similar issues or can offer any help, it would be greatly appreciated. I have no clue what could be going on!

In red filament is my attempt to print the [5 mm calibration cube](http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:24238) this morning, an example of how this calibration cube should look like is seen in the picture with the white calibration cubes.

[![5 mm Calibration Cube](https://i.sstatic.net/5JvVlm.jpg "5 mm Calibration Cube")](https://i.sstatic.net/5JvVlm.jpg "5 mm Calibration Cube") [![5 mm Calibration Cube example](https://i.sstatic.net/aZVk8m.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/aZVk8m.jpg)

**Tags:** g-code, printer-building, electronics, calibration, folgertechft-5

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This smells like skipped steps.  
> **username_0**: I agree. My next attempt at fixing the issue will be tuning the stepper drivers this weekend. Any other suggestions?  
> **username_2**: @username_0, did you resolve this?  
> **username_3**: I agree this looks like skipped steps along the front-to-back axis in this photo.  The machine is a 2 axis overhead gantry style machine, where the side-to-side inertia is much lower than the front-to-back inertia.  I'd suggest checking the acceleration settings, which could be too high, or could be set for a different architecture machine.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-07-31. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

The image shows that somehow steps in Y direction (under the assumption that you have taken the photograph from the front) are missed.

Missing steps can be caused by too high settings for acceleration and jerk, too much friction on the undercarriage or the belt assembly, undercarriage catching something at a certain point, too less current through the stepper.

You could increase the torque on the stepper by increasing the Vref of your stepper driver is you have separate stepper driver modules, or a adjustment screw on the printer controller board. Furthermore reduce the acceleration and jerk settings and check the undercarriage for stick-slip movement by disconnecting the belt, then reconnect the belt and check for friction of the pulleys.


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