printing issues

[g_leopard 2]

Hi I am getting tired of calibrating for hours and not geting results, If I run the file mini cal test, runs better than smooth but if I want to print my own files I get lots of non sticking to the glass, why this happens ?

[neotko 1,417]

Sorry but to be able to answer we need details. What's that file? What configuration you use? Photos?

If you want to stick it to glass basic stuff about it and many other common stuff:

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/23-a-visual-ultimaker-troubleshooting-guide

Also search on this forum about that. There are many many post about tricks and ways to get a perfect first layer.

[danilius 118]

Perfect first layer is down to several factors:

 

• speed
  
• temperature
  
• bed gap
  
• adhesive
  

 

Print your first layer really slowly - 10mm/sec or maybe 15mm/sec - until you are more used to printing.

If using PLA, print your first layer at no hotter than 210C (you might have to increase that once you have eliminated all the other variables)

Even if you have levelled your bed perfectly, if the gap is too great your first layer will be messed up, so once you have calibrated the bed watch the traces of your first layer. If their cross-section is round, then you need to reduce the gap between the bed and the nozzle. Your traces on the first layer should look squashed.

Adhesive is very important. There are loads of recipes: glue stick, hairspray, ABS juice, wood glue, painter's tape, cow's snot (OK, that last one is probably not genuine). I'm sure they all work equally well if applied in the correct manner, so pick your choice (pun intended for cow's snot, but don't laugh if you feel it will simply encourage me) and then stick to that until you get some kind of result that looks good. Don't fiddle with all the variables simultaneously.

Lastly, do some research yourself. Read what everyone else is writing. Go through the forums. 3D printing is complicated, in its infancy, and no-one has all the answers. Or most of the answers. Or, in some cases - Makercoughcough - any answers :-)

[g_leopard 2]

thank you very much, I boug abs and tried today but it really looks cool at begining but lately it comes of the hotplate

[danilius 118]

ABS is not something you want to play with if you are a noob. Start with PLA, get comfortable with your printer and then move onto ABS.

[g_leopard 2]

I think I´ll take that advice its quite hard to work it

[gr5 2,239]

I get lots of non sticking to the glass,

Please show a photo. In your later post you indicate that the bottom layer looks good but that later it comes off? Is that what you mean? Corners lifting? How big is this part. You ask about one issue but I think maybe you are having a different issue.

[danilius 118]

To make things work for me with ABS, I heat the plate to 110C, the filament between 230C and 260C depending on how fast I'm printing, slather UHU stick glue all over the bed, close up the front with blutack and paper, and put a concertina-fold cover over the top, keeping everything inside nice and toasty.

This is not a fool-proof method, but so far has yet to let me down. Of course, I have not printed anything in ABS for more than 20 hours at a time. Perhaps if I try a 100 hour print that might just change....

[g_leopard 2]

thank you I will check that this week sounds good to me I had bad experience last time it came off the heating bed and a blob of melt was into noozle and heat bed

[danilius 118]

Well, stay with the machine for the first two layers or so. Try an easy part first, and a large one, say around 8cm x 8cm. Watch it printing to see if you are getting the results you want, and tune speed/temp until you are happy. Then you should get an idea of what works for you.

[gr5 2,239]

@danillus - he's probably printing PLA so 110C bed and 260C nozzle is much too hot. But danillus's first post is the best advice.

It's hard to help you leopard because you tell us very little in your posts. We don't know what kind of printer you have and we don't know which material you are using. You mention you bought some ABS but are you using it yet? ABS requires very different ways of printing. It takes a long time to get very good at printing PLA and switching to ABS is a major headache. And the other way around also.

Please give more information. Tell us what you tried so far. To me it's very very easy to get parts to stick to the bed but there are things you need to know.

Here's some other helpful stuff:

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/23-a-visual-ultimaker-troubleshooting-guide

[danilius 118]

@gr5 - I only mentioned ABS because leopard said he bought some but could not get it to stick to the plate.

It looks like the same questions are being asked over and over again, so I think a wiki with all these issues compiled into one reference work will really make some sense and help noobs/the more experienced to sort out their printing woes.

[gr5 2,239]

I know - it does seem like it. But it would be a pretty massive wiki. And one can already google search all the answers on the forum. I really haven't been able to figure out the best format for that kind of thing.

[gr5 2,239]

I have a large text file with answers that I have posted more than 3 times. So sometims I just go there and copy and paste. It also has links and such. There's just many hundreds of common questions and almost every day something completely new.

[gr5 2,239]

I guess the closest thing so far is this:

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/23-a-visual-ultimaker-troubleshooting-guide

[gr5 2,239]

Ultimaker is making an attempt at this. They have created 4 troubleshooting pages here:

https://ultimaker.com/en/support/view/11704-extrusion-problems

They need at least 100 pages though to compete with this forum. I think.

[danilius 118]

@gr5, the 3dverkstan pages are a good start. Troubleshooting can be split into a few top-level areas: mechanical, electronic, software and printing.

Printing itself can be can be subdivided into bed adhesion, quality, noises (eg. kickback tocking), weird stuff.

Of course there can be various second-level categories that might point towards the same response. Certainly using images as well as text to describe each category would certainly help.

If most people who regularly respond here write in the wiki as well, and point links to the wiki, it should not take more than a few months to get a comprehensive guide up and running.

[g_leopard 2]

Well, stay with the machine for the first two layers or so. Try an easy part first, and a large one, say around 8cm x 8cm. Watch it printing to see if you are getting the results you want, and tune speed/temp until you are happy. Then you should get an idea of what works for you.

 

thank you that sounds good I began that way on the pla

[g_leopard 2]

I quit on the abs right away after this post, it stinked, and separated of the heating plate when my print , a rectangular E shaped profile at 2 mm tall, also noticed that the abs on the noozle exterior was like burnt , I was using white abs and loked black or dark brown

[mastory 44]

@g_leopard

You may already know, but you'll want use extra care when switching from ABS back to PLA that you get the ABS thoroughly cleaned out of the nozzle first. Any ABS residue left in the nozzle will not fully melt at PLA temps and cause clogging issues. You should do a number of 'atomic pulls' to get the nozzle cleaned out.

Matt

[danilius 118]

 

@g_leopard this is why you want to stick with PLA until you are very confident you can handle really difficult materials. Don't dismiss ABS totally though; there will come a point you should really try it, because it gives superior results to PLA in terms of surface finish. It can be stronger than PLA for certain types of shapes, although delamination is always an issue.

[g_leopard 2]

In matter of fact im fine with PLA just wanted to print a E shaped profile that will be in contact with water

[g_leopard 2]

Sure im on ult2, and using PLA, I got into ABS to print a E shaped profile that would be in contact with watter but the bad results scared me away from printing for a while

[jameshs 42]

In matter of fact im fine with PLA just wanted to print a E shaped profile that will be in contact with water

 

PLA can be really happy in water - I have had PLA parts (colorfabb PLA) in water for a year - no bad effect. I use PLA for plant pot trays and no ill effect - it is great stuff!

James

[g_leopard 2]

thanks James so far they have made it in contact with water !