Platform only goes up and down a tiny bit

[aidanbz]

I've got a new Mars Elegoo. When I did the initial set up (manually raising the plate after flattening it at the bottom), pressing "up 10mm" only lifted it about 1.5mm each time and the motor was very noisy. Going up 1mm and 0.1mm (according to the controls) - did even less (although about in proportion). I double checked the instructions and couldn't see anything I needed to remove/loosen. 

I pressed it lots of times (to get it high enough to slide the tank under), fitted the tank and I'm now running the test print (rook = 4 hours). It's been going for about 1.5 hours while and the platform is still suspiciously near the bottom, hasn't cleared the surface of the resin yet, so I can't see if it's done anything. It's also going up and down a little every so often. Don't know if this is normal, I would have expected it to just slowly rise. 

Am I missing anything? Might it need a firmware update or something?

[fromFDMtoSLA]

which printer do you have, the "Standard" or the Mars Pro, and what firmware?

[aidanbz]

which printer do you have, the "Standard" or the Mars Pro, and what firmware?

The standard, and whatever firmware it came with. I just plugged in the USB it came with and filled up the tank. I'm going to look at firmware now. There seems to be quite a few posts about 'greasing the platform screw' etc. Should I check it isn't sticky etc?

[zemerick]

The grinding noise was the arm skipping to prevent damage from too much stress. This caused the printer to lose track of its position and thus zero.

What you need to do now ( besides stopping the print ), is check that the rod has lube on it. If it does, smear it around to even it out, then you need to get the platform moving up and down ( which might require assistance ) to get the whole rod lubed up nicely. You'll probably need to reset 0 at the bottom, and then relevel. If it doesn't have grease on it already, you need to apply some.

[aidanbz]

Update: It's finished printing without error, but the rooks stop about halfway up. The bit that has printed looks perfect. The 'grease' on the rod is actually incredibly sticky - it's working as whatever the opposite of lubricant is. I cleaned off what I could with a cloth and an old toothbrush and then smeared it with '3-in-1' multi purpose oil. The platform now actually goes up and down by about the right about (10mm) when manually controlled and it's practically silent. I'm going to try printing again and see if it works this time.