MakerBot Industries

Yeah, did that too. Was thinking of turning up the torque on the motors, actually. Good idea? Bad idea?

I'm a fan of 'experiment until the magic smoke comes out' but thats just how I roll :)

Wrong again, I personally calulated the REF voltages for the Moons motors. That is as much torque as they will put out so deviating from the values will not help. You will only overheat the motors and permanently damage them. Heat causes demagnetization of the magnets inside the motors. While I know the Curie point is often regarded as the point loss of magnetism occurs, I assure you, permanent magnets loose strength when heated too much.

One thing I have repeatedly said is the stock default feedrate of 45mm/s is FAR too fast. you need to slow it down to 30mm/s in the print-o-matic settings. Hopefully, they have fixed this in the dowloadable versions of rep-g but I'm pretty sure that's what most people are seeing and it is causing the issues with skipped steps.

So if you have slowed it down and know the REF values are at the listed values, then it is a mechanical friction issue.

Yes, you were right; there were some mechanical alignment issues. It turns out the X axis pulley was installed upside down. Fixed that, lowered the Y motor just slightly, and with it all apart realigned all the bearings individually. I put it back together very carefully to keep the bearings aligned. Since then everything has moved smoothly and I haven't even needed the oil.

Thanks for the help, everyone!