A5S Solutions and problems from a new A5S owner

Bigtriver

I am new to the JGAurora but have been printing for 5 years and own 10 printers so I’m not a newbie.

I've owned the A5S about a week and here’s my problems...

1. Firmware update - resolved
the SD card that comes with A5S won’t work to flash the firmware - but a different brand and format it as fat32.  Works immediately.

2. Bed adhesion - resolved
buy geckotek sheets - you’ll be printing like mad with no warping. (Also make sure you slow down initial layer speed and properly level the bed.)

3. Printing end - unresolved
for some reason even after placing correct gcode to reposition the head of the printer so it doesn’t remain on the piece when finished - it only works on small prints.  My longer multihour prints ignore the gcode and it remains on the piece ruining it?!??

4. Reprint - unresolved
every time I finish a print I have to turn the machine off and on or the best print heads to the top right corner of the bed, makes a horrible sound, and just extrudes filament while counting down as if it is printing normally?!?! (Is this related to 3 above)?

5. Symplify3d - unresolved
not that I’ve had great success with this on any of my printers, but when I try to use this on the A5S it makes the head move off the bottom of the plate in between layers... so I use JGCreate.

As the owner of 7 Lulzbot minis ($1250 a pop) I can tell you I’m pretty happy with this purchase so far.  The SD card problem was annoying as hell because it effectively bricks the unit, and I can’t for the life of me figure out how no one at the company tested this, but otherwise assuming Someone can suggest fixes for 3,4 and 5, I’m so far impressed...

Samuel Pinches

Welcome @Bigtriver ! So great to have more experienced 3D printers join us who can share valuable knowledge!

1. It's ridiculous. I don't understand it either, but I didn't have problems personally. Could be a MBR vs GPT issue with poorly factory partitioned cards?? No idea.

2. Great to hear you've found a solution that works for you!

3. What is your end gcode in your slicer?

4. I think this is a firmware bug as I have heard of some others have the same problem, but I have not seen it myself. Again, please post your start and end gcode so we can test your prints too. Its helpful if you can upload a gcode file that the problem occurs with (you can add it as an attachment to your post) , and please specify exactly which date of firmware you're using.

5. Please post a gcode and maybe we can investigate.

Lulzbot mini's are really amazing - we had a first gen one at my old job. I think they are really well engineered - you get what you pay for! They are real work horses, and I found the print volume was pretty acceptable for our uses (we didn't print cosplay helmets haha). Far bigger than an UP Mini or similar.

Bigtriver

Hi Samuel,

thanks for the answers - I’ll post my start end code but spoiler alert it’s identical to the ones you have on this site under recommended gcode.

it is puzzling that it works for small prints but not on large ones (which are actually more crucial for it to work on).

i print a tremendous amount of game related plastic so I’ll upload some pics of our latest game and the trays for the box.

my biggest printer is the gigabot $6500 and was built to print toilets in space (2 foot by 2 foot by 3 foot build area)

in reality we never printed a single item on it but just multiples of smaller items.

best,

todd

Bigtriver

Ok, realize what the issue was.  My first A5S ignored the gcode so I decided to flash it.  Which bricked it because the sd Card was bad.  So they shipped me a new one and when I flashed it it bricked as well - except I used a lexar as Card and that worked.  So my issues I saw on the first printer (listed above) were because I was on an older firmware.  On the new printer with the new lexar flashed firmware all my problems are gone.

i have printed all day with now issues!

it even homes when finished.

so a false positive based on the faulty sd card...

Samuel Pinches

Wooo!