Why is my first layer wrinkled

[richardwalter 0]

I am a new M2 user and have been printing successfully for weeks using PLA. Most parts have been small. Now I have graduated to larger parts and am starting to have some issues. I was reading some posts from others about warping on the corners of larger parts and saw some hints. One of them was to ensure the bed was level using the Simplify 3D bed leveling wizard. I thought this could be a contributor so I did it using paper to represent 0.1 mm. My original bed leveling was with a business card. By the way, I did find the leveling wizard to be pretty useful for those that didn't know about it. However, now I am seeing significant wrinkling of the first layer. (See the attached picture) The outer edges seem to grab hold just fine but the middle is not adhering to the bed. I figured maybe my nozzle is too close to the bed because this was not a significant problem before I leveled the bed using paper. Therefore I adjusted the first layer extrusion height several times making it as high as 130% before giving up and taking the attached picture. The original setting was 90%. Did I mess something up with getting the nozzle too close when doing the leveling? OR Is this just an adhesion issue and I need to start using hairspray as so many other posts have suggested? I saw a very small amount of wrinkling before I leveled the bed, but now it is very excessive. Also, I wipe the glass clean every time before I print something. I'm at a loss for what to try to fix this. Any help would be appreciated. If I just continue with the print the wrinkles end up causing nasty vibration as the nozzle passes over them. That can't be good for the nozzle. For that reason I want to fix this before I do any further printing.

thanks,

Richard

About Me:

I'm new in this forum, I am a consultant and have worked with multiple firms

You can check 2d animation video examples one of my work.

[gr5 2,071]

You forgot to attach the photo.

Extreme details on everything there is to know about getting parts to stick:

 

[eldrick 64]

Not hairspray, unless you enjoy having it on everything in the room where you spray it. Use the gluestick included with the printer!

[cloakfiend 994]

I personally think the glue stick provided with the printer is not good enough for details prints. You need something stronger. I stopped using after a few weeks of owning my first UM2. I need to try the hairspray thing, but if someone is so stupid to spray hairspray all over their room rather than two puffs directly into a tissue as shown in neotko's vids then that should be a lesson to them. Its like asking someone to not use the glue because they might get it on their face, lol.

[gr5 2,071]

>Its like asking someone to not use the glue because they might get it on their face, lol.

lol!

I do it over the kitchen sink.  Or I do it the neotko way and spray on tissue.  But usually I use wood glue as shown in my video above.  I show all three glue techniques.  Even with the glue stick, after putting some on the glass I use a wet tissue.  Watch the video

Another interesting technique which I have not tried is to use salt (salt water). It sounds like it works pretty well but I haven't compared it to glue.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Guest

[geert_2 556]

For PLA I only use the "salt method": moisten a paper tissue with salt water and then gently wipe the build plate. Gently keep wiping while it dries. So there is a very thin and equal, but almost invisible mist of salt on it. But not too much.

For colorFabb PLA/PHA and Ultimaker PLA this gives a very strong bonding when hot (60°C), and no bonding at all when finished and back at room temp. This makes removing the parts very easy, as it requires no force at all. For ICE PLA the salt method still works, but no longer perfect: corners do slightly lift sometimes. Fans can be full on, as required for PLA.

No need to take the glass out of the printer, no need to clean it. Very easy.

I don't know why, but a paper tissue works better than a sponge. Maybe because it distributes the salt in finer drops than I could do with the sponge, so it gives a better covering? But this is a guess.

For PET I also got the salt method to work now. But I had to increase build plate temp to 70°C and use no fans. Otherwise corners lifted a lot. Now it gives a reasonably strong bonding when hot, and very little when cold. Here, without salt, the PET is more difficult to remove when cold, so the salt somehow helps in releasing. It is not perfect, but works good enough.

I have tried the dilluted wood glue method too for PET: this gives a stronger bonding than the salt method, so it could also be used with fans on, but it was way more difficult to remove the print after completion and cooling down. Once I even pulled a big piece of glass out of the build plate. So I will keep this "dilluted wood glue method" for high models or delicate prints that need cooling, and use the salt method for low and sturdy prints that can do without fans.

For ABS the salt method did not work, but I did not try very hard. I disliked the horrible smell of ABS too much, and it sort of reacted with the salt (or with the moisture in the salt?) and started to foam terribly the first two layers. I did not investigate this further. Maybe I will try again in the future, maybe not...

[geert_2 556]

By the way, apart from the bonding, keep the default settings to start experimenting.

For PLA: 210°C nozzle temp, 60°C bed temp, 100% flow, 50mm/s speed (20mm/s for the first layer), 0.1mm layer height (0.3mm for first layer), etc... And good bed leveling, not too high, not too low. These defaults are good, so that should work well enough. If it fails, it is not because of these settings, and there is something else wrong.

Clean the glass with whatever window cleaner you want, or alcohol. But then clean it once again with pure luke-warm tap water only! Some window cleaners or alcohols do contain chemicals or soaps that do reduce bonding, so you have to remove these too afterwards.

[cloakfiend 994]

I will defy give salt a try seeing as i already have some at home. Im still using glue at the moment but i get some tiny areas that lift up slightly, not to bothered but when it get too bad ill try something else.