It is PLA. I ordered ABS but was only sent PLA by mistake so that is all I have. Will try raising the bed further tomorrow when I make another attempt (and see if anyone else has any ideas).
On the first layer, it should probably be smushing the plastic onto the platform - the distance between nozzle & platform should be less than the diameter of the nozzle hole.
Also, make sure your platform is level..
Follow this one. You might not need to oil the whole platform... a little messy in my opinion. I made a smaller sheet of aluminium foil, with some oil on the back to have it stick at the platform. Its enough to do it in every corner.
As soon, as you Z is level and you have taped again. Start the print and grab the Z-Spindle at the lower end, right after the print starts. Turn it a few klicks until you see a little transparent film.
Also, I configured netfab to print the bottom with low speed... helps a lot.
I also printed a Z-adjuster from thingyverse... but this won't help you until something sticks :twisted:
cheers,
Micha
It is PLA. I ordered ABS but was only sent PLA by mistake so that is all I have. Will try raising the bed further tomorrow when I make another attempt (and see if anyone else has any ideas).
as Dave said below, as long as you bed is level (nozzle-bed distance is the same in all 4 corners), you can adjust the first layer by manually turning the z-axis once the print has started.
Not had a chance to try again yesterday, other things came up but will try the suggestions asap
ok, progress
I tried two things at the same time
- removed the cooling fan from the print head (I think it was cooling down the plastic as it left the nozzle)
- raise the bed slightly as the print starts (in fact I dig into the blue tape).
Managed to now print something, hurrah, ok it;s only the square tube sample but it at least looks like a square tube so it's now printing something ..... hurrah
- removed the cooling fan from the print head (I think it was cooling down the plastic as it left the nozzle)
It's job is to cool the plastic!!!
I would definitely add that back on. It will become really important once you get going..
- raise the bed slightly as the print starts (in fact I dig into the blue tape)
It's difficult to get things just right.. Digging into the tape means the platform is too high.
Have patience, try one small thing at a time and you'll get it right. Once you get it right, you'll spend a lot more time printing and less time messing with it..
Blue tape tends to have a wax on it... try cleaning the tape with alchol or windex. I use windex and works great without the smell. In some cases it makes it so sticky I can't get the pieces off the bed with out pull up the tape.
I'm pretty new here and to printing, but I have found 2 thicknesses of copy paper as a feeler gauge between the nozzle and the tape to work pretty well. That's about .008" or .16mm or .2mm
Matt
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I would suggest raising the build platform even just a little bit more. If you close the distance to the point where it has a hard time extruding and it's still is not sticking, I would check that you are actually using PLA and not ABS. ABS does not stick worth a darn to blue tape, and it will bruise when you bend it while PLA tends to snap.
Also stick to about 240ish for now.
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