1 Topic by Rocketman

  • Rocketman
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Topic: Printing Using Entire Surface

When I calibrated the printer I tore the Kaplan tape and have since put a new sheet on. When I was printing using only the corner of the surface (because it was torn around the middle) my prints actually turned out. But now that I am trying to print objects as full size taking up the entire area I am having many of the same troubles as I had when the machine arrived in the mail (minus the trouble of finding drivers for it). My test object prints the first few trips around to frame the shape of the base of the object, but when it starts to do the diagonal back and forth to fill it in it completely tears the print apart. It's like now that I am printing at the full size the plastic has more time to cool or something between trips made by the extruder, and it has became too solid too early. Do I need to change the extruder or print bed heat, or keep trying to bring the print bed closer to the extruder so it presses it down harder (hopefully this time without ripping the tape again)? I am secretly hoping that someone says more heat because I really don't want to destory another tape, or to find that even bringing it closer makes no difference.

2 Reply by Rocketman

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Re: Printing Using Entire Surface

I just tried raising the bed a bit to try to make sure the plastic pressed down well and the base layer seemed to go down properly (much thinner and more transparent than usual), and after a while I stopped watching it for about 30 minutes (the total time was like 5.5 hours) and before I knew it, the extruder was a good half a CM above the flatform and was no longer extruding anything. It was moving around as if it were, but wasn't doing anything. Are these the symptoms of a clog in the extruder head or something? Or something else wrong here?

3 Reply by ronsii

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Re: Printing Using Entire Surface

check if the extruder motor is turning and trying to push filament or grinding a divot in the filament if so then it could be a clog.

4 Reply by Rocketman

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Re: Printing Using Entire Surface

ronsii wrote:

check if the extruder motor is turning and trying to push filament or grinding a divot in the filament if so then it could be a clog.

Yeah it was bending in the feedtake. I drew it back out, cut it down to where it was straight again, and refed it in, and that seemed to do the trick. However I printed a pyramid model and there was some major curling at the corners of it, and the Kaplan tape now has bubbles in the general circle where the base of the pyramid was flat before it curls up in the corners. I put the new tape on today. How does one iron down bubbles? And how exactly is curling handled? I'll include photos when I get a chance.

5 Reply by solijohn

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Re: Printing Using Entire Surface

Rocketman wrote:
ronsii wrote:

check if the extruder motor is turning and trying to push filament or grinding a divot in the filament if so then it could be a clog.

Yeah it was bending in the feedtake. I drew it back out, cut it down to where it was straight again, and refed it in, and that seemed to do the trick. However I printed a pyramid model and there was some major curling at the corners of it, and the Kaplan tape now has bubbles in the general circle where the base of the pyramid was flat before it curls up in the corners. I put the new tape on today. How does one iron down bubbles? And how exactly is curling handled? I'll include photos when I get a chance.

It is generally better to iron out the bubbles as you apply the tape. If you have already laid out the tape, you might be able to "pop" them with a pin.

Former Solidoodle employee, no longer associated with the company.

6 Reply by Rocketman

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Re: Printing Using Entire Surface

There were no bubbles when I put the tape down. They only appeared when I built the pyramid model.

7 Reply by Caucasian

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Re: Printing Using Entire Surface

They may have migrated from the screw heads, as will happen sometimes with the bed heats and stuff starts expanding. The only option to get the bubbles out at this point would be to get a squeege of some sort, heat the bed, and carefully it back to a screw head, or the side of the kapton.

I have a friend who has a detail shop, I swiped one of the tools they use to apply window tinting from him. Works wonders.