SoliForum - 3D Printing Community — Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-25T03:41:49Z

Staffordknot wrote:

I'm feeling sorry for myself and need some motivation not to chuck my printer in the bin!

I'm right there with you. I got my SD3 in February, the hot end died in less than 10 days, just after I realized part of my printing problem was the horrible z-wobble (the frame actually bows and buckles as the z axis moves). It wasn't until mid-march that I got the replacement hot end to install. By then I just wanted to get it working, and decided to ignore the z wobble for a bit. I ended up switching to PLA by April, since my heated bed heats unevenly enough that one side melts, just to get this thing to print anything larger than a nickle without delaminating.

I had to take a break to save my sanity, and just came back to it last night. One acceptable print (not good, just acceptable) done, I decided to try ABS again, since I bought two rolls from SD with the printer. I've got two badly warped first-five-layers of the print, and one spaghetti monster from five attempts today (some I had to kill within seconds they were so bad).

I'm thinking a 3d printing users-group may be my savior at this point.

Do you know of any that meet near you? Maybe they could help you?

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-23T20:27:17Z

perhaps i've been absent from 3d printing forums for too long that i missed the part where people stopped printing on painters tape.

when i built my first mendel over a year ago i started out printing with masking tape on glass. some brands work better than others. in particular, the u-line dark blue stuff works the best.
of course i do the calibration and bed leveling, but to this day i've always had the best bed adhesion with painters tape. PLA sticks better on smooth heated surfaces, but ABS are more tricky.

Other surfaces i've tried - plain glass, kapton, bare aluminum.. tried all of them heated and unheated.

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-22T22:56:08Z

Ok cheers will adjust and retry tomorrow

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-22T22:49:42Z

Business card is too thick!

Try a dollar bill or something similar. You want the bed to be about .1mm or 0.003" to 0.004" from the nozzle. Also make sure the nozzle end is fairly clean of debris. The nozzle should just "bite" the dollar bill a bit when you slide it around.

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-22T22:39:54Z

What would really help if i could get the nozzle distance set correctly from the bed. I need something like a set of sparkplug gauges. I'm using a business card but its ht and miss.

I turned it on tonight for the first time in a few days and it printed ok but peeled of on layer 5 which is far more successful then previous attempts

I've ordered a new e3d hotend and will get a qu-bd heated bed ordered. And build an enclosure!

Thanks again

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-22T20:56:37Z

I have had very good consistency with my prints. I typically do the following on a weekly basis:

- Bed Leveling
- Clean Kapton with acetone(I don't use glass or hairspray)
- Inspect belts cables, connections, and carriage

For general printing:
- Always use 3-4 mm brim
- NEVER let the nozzle stand hot without extruding
- Always print with an enclosure

Seems to be working great. Have had the SD2 since November...haven't changed the Kapton yet!

Hang in there! You will get this dialed in and ultimately you will be focusing more on your designs!

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-22T12:51:57Z

I apply a single layer of hairspray to my hot glass. It should be like you are spray painting the glass. You want even coverage but no puddles. a quick once over usually works. You will get your own routine. Search keyword replacement hotend in the forums and you will get plenty of answers. The long and short of it is, pretty much anything that fits maker ware.jhead is popular.

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-22T08:27:23Z

How much hairspray should i be using? Does it make a difference applying to cold or hot glass? What available replacement hot ends are there? And replacement beds?

Cheers

Really appreciate the photos etc... Really restored my hopes! Elmoret love the extruder by the way I was selling it to our hackspace community last week.

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-22T03:31:26Z

nice work.

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-22T00:24:26Z

I have made over $100 selling name plaques, and now fan grills printed on my printer. they are very consistant and had good luck with the printer, now that its tweaked in.

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-21T22:51:32Z

28 hoppers, 4 failed prints. I'm okay with it. The QU-BD hotend kinda sucks though, as evidenced by the oozing on some of the earlier prints.

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-21T22:43:38Z

Just tried the cork layer trick.
Here is my temperature ramp without the cork:

And with the cork layer:

As you can see, it does really make a difference right at the end, but still takes about 20 minutes to heat up.

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-21T22:03:31Z

Since the prints have stopped sticking, have you cleaned the bed with acetone? My prints started sticking better, also, make some sort of enclosure to keep the heat in, that helps tons!

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-21T19:52:03Z

I think it's a part of the new technology. These 3D printers are for people with technical know-how still.

My bed does take a while to warm up. I've seen a few tips for that though. I know a full enclosure helps, and the enclosure I'm building still lacks a top.

I've seen a suggestion of simply laying a sheet of cork over the bed while you are initially heating to speed up the heating time. That seems like it would be a quick and easy fix. I notice a big improvement when the bed is fully warmed up. The room temperature makes a big difference for me. The room I'm printing is sometimes down to 15 degrees. When the heating's on it gets up to temperature faster.

Most of the problems I had with things not sticking went away when the bed was at temperature. Most. Not all.
I've yet to try getting a glass bed, or the hairspray trick, or the ABS/Acetone slurry, but those seem like initial things to try if sticking is an issue when you've got to temperature.

Re: Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

2013-05-21T19:30:10Z

My printer has been pretty cooperative since I got it Friday. Did a little fooling to update RH/Slic3r while keeping the default settings, but that's about the only change (Slic3r was crashing on a .stl I wanted to print, but the newer version was able to slice it just fine). About two dozen prints in and I haven't yet had to adjust the bed height or anything of the sort. I did have one or two prints come loose, but the contact surface area was extremely low, just a few lines - that was more my seeing how far I could push the printer than anything.

One thing I have been doing that seems to help a little is printing a small disc about the size of a quarter before going into a major print - I think it helps to get everything loosened and warmed before going into a major job, otherwise I notice the first layer or two might be a bit off.

The only difference in print consistency I've noticed was a bit of an improvement with the upgrade to the newest Slic3r, I was getting some strange diagonal lines on some prints (consistently), but that's stopped with the update.