printing a messy base instead of the actual object

[manny 0]

not entirely sure how to describe this. It does not happen all the time, but every now and then, my printer will start making a complete mess of the first few layers before it reverts to printing what it's supposed to. I can't understand why this happens sometime since it is rather inconsistent when it happens and it's only happened 3 times so far. The link below is for a picture of what this looks like when it happens. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

 

[pm_dude 27]

Hi manny,

It could be caused by many things:

- bed leveling not close enough

- printing too cold for the first layer to stick properly. (Pla can print at 195C but the first layer may have a hard time to stick. Try 205C and up)

- glass too cold (50-60C is best for PLA)

- printing too fast on the first layer (try 15-30mm/s)

- sometimes it stick better with glue or spray.

You can also add more skirt (I use 2 or 3) just to make sure the filament is well primed and that it doesn't just roll past the nozzle.

[manny 0]

thanks for the reply pm_dude. I don't think the issue is bad leveling because I recently had an issue with that which i corrected and I'd have figured if it were a leveling issue, the problem would happen more often than not. I don't believe the problem is due to printing cold either since the object in the photo was actually the second object in a batch print job. As for making it stick to the glass, one of the other times this happened, it started printing the first few layers fine, then went crazy on me.

Sorry if i'm just shooting down your suggestions, hopefully you can tell me i'm wrong for some reason and this can all be fixed by using a raft more often!

Thanks for the suggestions

 

[pm_dude 27]

If you say it can print the first few layers fine and then start messing up then raft is not going to help at all. There are only very few use case for raft in general. Brim is usually more useful and easier to remove.

Unfortunately without seeing what is going on when its messing up you cant really tell why it did mess up unless a piece/support broken or if the first layer detached from the bed at some point.

If you have any other pictures or video it would help.

My guess is still bad bed adhesion.

[pm_dude 27]

Do you have pictures of other properly printed objects? The base in particular.

[valcrow 144]

also if your glass is dirty, like if you touched it recently, finger oils ill prevent proper sticking. Try cleaning with a bit of alcohol to get squeeky clean

 

[yellowshark 153]

Hi Manny, if a video is not possible can you print it again and then stop the print as soon as it starts to fail and then take some pics without touching the model, i.e leave it on the bed as it was.

 

[manny 0]

a video would be difficult because i don't know when it's going to screw up, but i'll take a photo next time it screws up. Thanks!

 

[manny 0]

i left to print overnight, so i wasn't able to stop it when it started to screw up, but maybe you'll get an idea from the pictures anyway anyway...

The first photo is of all the objects that printed on the bed. the two at the front were fine, but the one at the back seemed to have a layer printed incorrectly, the second phot is a close up of this. The final photo is kind of what i've been asking about, but since i was asleep, i wasn't able to stop it, like i usually do, so it kept going into that that mess you see there. As you can see, it started off printing ok, then it descended into madness!

 

 

 

Any help would be appreciated!

failing that, some amusing comments about how it looks like someone threw a ninja star at the hot end will do

 

[manny 0]

that melted ball of plastic sitting on the hot end has actually filled the cavitiy between the guard that hold up the fans and the hot end. looks like i'm going to have to work out some way of digging that plastic out, and i can't seem to remove the two fans, which means i'm going to have to do it all while it's hanging inside the damn printer! frustrating

 

[skint 61]

It looks like the 3rd one, at the back just suffered from a feeder skip. This is the original ultimaker blue by the look of it? Are you nearing the center or end of the print reel? If so, this could be increasing your chances of filament being a little too tight on the reel and the feeder skipping as it tries to feed.

The mess on the 3rd image ...haha someone has thrown a ninja star at your hotend... at some point the hotend and the print has got a little messy and its pulled your print from the bed.

If i was you...firstly before doing anything else.. I would try printing the same files but with different filament if you have one. A new role preferably so we eliminate the old reel problem. Print at 210c with a 60c bed. 40mms.

 

[skint 61]

Search the forum for the "filled cavity problem ". We have seen it before and you may need to take things apart to clean it properly. I will have a quick look for you too, if I find the post I am referring to I will post it.

Things like this may help.

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/8764-holy-cp-and-now/?hl=clogged

 

[manny 0]

Thanks Skint. Yeah, that's the filament that came with the printer and it has reached about the centre of the reel. I'll try loosening it up a little. Don't have any other filaments at the moment, but I intend on getting some ABS and more PLA soon.

I'll try and find the "filled cavity problem" on here and thanks again!

 

[manny 0]

oh, just thought i'd let you guys know, i used a soldering iron to melt the plastic before pulling it out with a knife and a pair of pliers. It was prett awkward because all i could seem to do was remove the screws holding the heat guard to the hotend assembly, but i couldn't remove the fans from the guard because they were screwed and glues on. Got as much of it out as i could, which seemed enough to stop causing an issue with the printer.