New to printing - DaVinci Mini

I got a few sheets of buildtak from amazon and that has helped my bed adhesion a lot on my mini.  You technically want 150 mm x 150 mm sheets but all I could find were 6.5"x6.5" and they fit perfectly.

Remember that buildtak is thicker than tape and so you will need to raise your z offset by quite a bit.  To set the z offset I skipped out on the card, that never seemed to work.  Instead I did a binary search.  Basically I did a test print, and if the print was hitting the bed or causing the extruder to click or otherwise showing signs of being too low I increased the z offset by 100 mm.  Then on the second print the z offset was too high now (that was my goal) and nothing would stick so I lowered it by 50 mm, then on the third test print I could work out if I needed to go lower (nothing sticks) or higher (clicking and a squished first layer) and move 25 mm in the appropriate direction.  Repeat till you are satisfied with the results.

Things stick too well to the buildtak and the scraper that came with the machine was way too aggressive.  I found a very thin artists pallet knife on amazon and use that instead.  This looks about like a butter knife, it is an inch wide and 4 inches long and is very thin and flexible at the tip, the tip is also rounded.  It has enough strength to do light prying but is thin enough (and yet blunt enough) to slide under most anything safely.

I also almost always use a brim, even with the buildtak I have warping issues on anything but the most simple of prints and a brim helps a lot. 

Finally I just learned a new trick, if you are designing parts make the outer corners round rather than square and you will get a lot less warping.  A square corner puts a lot of strain on the model. You don't need to make things very round, a 2 mm radius makes a huge difference.

Anyway using those tricks I have printed just fine with clear green, within reason.  Without an enclosed and heated build environment you will always have a bit of trouble with warping but parts should always stick.

Sounds like you could be extruding too hot and the filament is oozing. Could also be over extrusion or your first layer is set too low/thin.

As a newbie I am relying on mostly the software. The XYZ software doesn't seem to offer a temperature setting but I'm working with techsupport on several issues with the software already. As for setting the first layer too low or thin the printer and software state that they 'auto level' so I don't really know how I can alter that.

But I may be mis-stating the issue, as it isn't that the layer drags when applied but that the extruder lifts and the filament lingers, this moves with the printer across the just laid layer. Leaving trails of the dangling filament across the layers already applied.

Again I'm probably explaining this poorly. I'll see about showing some photos of my prints with odd issues and maybe you helpful chaps can point in the right method of correction.

I did not see anything wrong with the machine so far. The bed tape supposed to be replaced every 5-10 prints, otherwise you will have trouble to stick your first layer. For the oozing or string issue, you need to lower the printing temperature. Only recent version of xyzware allows fine tone of the printing temperature. alternative easy solution is to blow a fan toward your print during the printing and see if it improves. If the hotend temperature have trouble to increase after you blow fan towards it, move your fan slightly far from the print to reduce the wind power.

Once you get it worked, this is the first thing you want to print so that you don't have to keep the fan blowing at it.

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d … mini-25978

The test strip looks OK. the in-perfect part is some filament stick to your nozzle and that's exactly what the test strip is for, to prime the nozzle with filament and get ride of the filament that stuck to outside of the nozzle.

The oozing is not too bad, blow a fan toward your print during the printing and see if it improves. If the hotend temperature have trouble to increase after you blow fan towards it, move your fan slightly far from the print to reduce the wind power.

As for the support, how fast are you printing? I think 30-40mm/s usually gives good result for Da Vinci Jr. /miniMaker.

The XYZ warranty is worthless. They require you to ship the unit back to the factory at your cost in Taiwan.