Colorfabb PLA/PHA troubles

[cloakfiend 995]

Just practice calibrating bed levelling, then practice minor adjusting on the fly, and you'll be all set. When i was experimenting at which height to set my ob from my shroud i often forgot to relevel, and just did it on the fly, but to be safe ran the paper method which i have down now so i dont even need to so the adjustments on the fly 99% of the time.

Practice makes perfect. Then bed levelling is a non issue.

[LePaul 321]

I use ColorFabb almost exclusively on my UMO.  I just installed the heated bed a month ago.  That has been quite an adjustment from blue tape

If you use blue tape, they advise you to wipe it down with rubbing alcohol.  This removes the waxy surface and promote adhesion.  But we aware, on my UMO and blue tape, it held so good it would rip the tape, no matter what I did!  I always got a little tear requiring replacing the tape.

Once I got the heated bed, I had to re-learn what I thought I knew!  

I use the glue stick on a warm bed, I am surprised others do not?  I find it smears and melts nice, so I can use a damp cloth (microfiber) to smear it around the bed.  After a few minutes it is all dried up

@gr5 had a nice write up on temperatures of the bed and force to remove a print.  I wish that was Stickied or in the Tips and Tricks!  I know if I use the gluestick I can keep the bed temp low.  (Since the UMO only has a cooling fan on one side of the print head, I need to do this, otherwise overhangs on the non-cooled side droop).

I tend to see good results between 45-55 on the bed temp.  When I start a print, I start the first layer at 60 and then, via the Ulticontroller on the UMO, lower it to that 45-55 range.  

A tip others gave, do some extra skirt lines.  This will help you see how good your bed leveling is.  If the filamet is smooshed into the bed, you have done good.  If no filament, too close.  If filament looks rounded, bed to far away.  I have found quickly adjusting those 3 knobs while this is underway is a great way to make sure that first layer will be awesome.

Edited February 16, 2016 by Guest

[geert_2 557]

I suggest you try wiping the glass plate with salt water, prior to printing. Gently keep wiping with a moist tissue, until the water evaporates and leaves a thin mist of salt on the glass. This *greatly* improves bonding of PLA to heated glass. When hot (60°C), my prints bond rock-solid to the glass, I can't pull them off. But when cold after finishing, they come off without any force at all. So for me this is the perfect solution. But it does require a heated glass bed.

Since I used this "salt method" one year ago, I printed about 1000 parts, often very complex, long and 100% filled parts, without warping. (Only one inverted prism came off).

See my manual (PDF-file) with lots of pictures at:

https://www.uantwerpen.be/nl/personeel/geert-keteleer/manuals/

Hope this helps. This method probably only works for PLA, but I haven't tried any other materials. So I would be interested to know about other materials.

Geert

[CheaT 1]

I'm printing with an italian hairspray since february and use a sheet of cardboard as front door to keep the heat in the printer and the printing qality was enourmous improved

it is still the same hairspray coating I use since february and i've got almost no warping on really huge parts. they stick very good and when the bed is cooled down, they can just be lift off like an empty PET-bottle

is there a way to mark this topic as "closed"?

[yellowshark 153]

I do not think squooshing it into the bed is necessary. I accept that it may help some, but my personal view is that it is probably compensating for something else that is not quite right. I do not sqoosh because most of the time dimensional accuracy is vital for my work and rarely do I have any problems with 1st layer adhesion.

Of course we all get different experiences, which makes advice difficult as it may often be contradictory. My printer is fully enclosed but I have always printed with the door open with PLA. Then my manufacturer advised me to also remove the roof for PLA and that had a noticeable benefit. So plugging some cardboard onto the front of a UM seems strange to me!!