dwpearl03

Alright, you guys have sold me. I'm going to order some glass!

Thanks for the input. Yes, I do suspect the learning curve will be quite large for learning how to make a design that is ready for injection moulding. I guess I never realized this when I started tinkering with all of this. I'm second guess proceeding on my own and may want to take a different route on my ideas. Thanks for the reference information. It's a good starting place to look into before I decide to learn some new programs. So, is anyone good with licensing their ideas!?

When I first got into 3D printing, I did it to prototype some ideas that maybe I could mass produce some day. Well, I've got a good product now, but I never knew I would have to find a way to make a mesh into a solid in a CAD based program. I can't find anyone that can either mass produce from a stl file or someone that can convert my file for me. I have tried to convert it in FreeCAD and Fusion 360 without any success. The object I have might be considered complex since it had lots of curves. I think this might be causing my conversion problem. I guess that I could spend some time and try to learn how to design in CAD, but that's going to be an undertaking. Does anyone know: 1) A simple way to make this conversion 2) Someone that can convert this file for me at a reasonable price 3) A company that can make a plastic injection mold that can be made from a stl mesh file? Thanks community!

Thanks, for the input guys. When I first started printing, I struggled with adhesion to the bed issues. After checking in several forums, I tried the blue tape. Honestly, I have had great results printing on the tape and with a raft in regards to adhering issues. I guess in a way, those may be a crutch that is hindering me now from getting great results. I probably need to break down, buy some glass and give the 3Dlac a try. I've never been happy with the surface on the bottom of my prints. I understand what you mean by z-offset now. The air raft gap would be comparable to the z-offset but instead of measuring between build plate and nozzle for first layer, it is between the raft and the first layer. If the air raft gap is too large, the first layer won't adhere to the raft and if its too small, the raft won't separate nicely. It essentially becomes part of the model. I kept I higher bed temp in hopes of preventing the model from cooling too fast and therefore shrinking. I did make some changes and had better results with the warping. I blocked some of the airflow and also added some right angles that were about 10mm tall around the corners but separate from the corners that were warping. I also lowered the temp a few degrees. I had much better results from that. I also lowered the raft air gap back to 0.2 and luckily I did not have any problems removing the raft. Maybe I could go lower. The first layer was still not great. I think I need to find a way to ditch the raft and get some good plate adhesion from the start. Maybe I can fine tune it while it's getting started. Does that 3Dlac seem to about $40? The only place I can find it is Ebay.

Bossler, thanks for the input. I'll have to look into that stuff. I think that I'm going to try printing this without the tape this time. I've had such good prints with the tape I didn't want to get away from it, but this is a larger print. When you refer to Z Gap, is that the same thing as the Raft Air Gap? From a brief search, it looks like it's hard to adjust the Z Gap in Cura. I have also been pretty strict with the build plate leveling when I get started. I shouldn't be having a humidity problem since I've started several of these prints with a fresh roll. I'll try lowering the temp as well. The advice is appreciated.

I would consider myself to have a decent amount of 3D printing experience at this point, but I am struggling with this print. I am having issues with my first layer not adhering very well to my raft and then with the print warping later. I've probably tried to print this part at least 8 times with different settings and different results. I have also tried the usual fixes for these problems. I am printing PLA on a Monoprice Maker Select 3D Printer and using Cura 2.3.1 for my settings. (I can't get version 3 to work on my computer for some reason) Here are a few of the things I have tried for the first layer problem. I have the raft air gap currently set a 0.25. I have found I get very poor adhesion with 0.3 and at 0.2 I can't separate the raft. I have tried the first layer print at different speeds. I have tried different fan settings. I felt that the fan was blowing the bead off but that was not the case. I tried unplugging the fan at the beginning of the print just to be sure. As for the warping, I have tried different temps of both the bed and print temp. I use blue painting tape with a glue stick. When it warps, it usually pulls the raft with it. I have tried different variables of the cooling fan. Should I enable print cooling? I feel like this is only for objects that are printed vertically very fast. I was concerned that a draft in the room may be causing it be cause it is always the side closest to the wall that warps. I haven't been able to confirm this though and I am trying to block any draft on that side of the print at this point. I have enlarged the raft and tried adding mouse ears but without success. Thanks for any ideas.