I just cant get it to work... Pulling my hair out SD3

You need to use something a little thicker than a peice of paper.  A business card perhaps.  You will be too close to the table and the extruder will backup and not extrude and you will strip filament on the first pass as you are seeing.One way I do it is to increase the gap until it doesn't stick then work you way down a 1/4 turn at a time until it sticks nice. The other thing to look out for is that you have the spring tension set on the extruder feed so that the space between the springs is about 1/3 the width of spring next to it.  There is no need to set the temp over 200.  I'm using black abs and am set to 200.  195 is probably fine for most abs.  If you don't have acetone you can use rubbing alcohol.  I highly recommend the glass top but for now just bump up your bed temp to 100 and put a small towel over it so it will get up to temp.  Pull the towel off and start your job.  It will stick.  Finally, make absolutely sure you turn off the extruder between runs so that it doesn't clog up.

For adjusting the space between the bed and extruder i just used a playcard (hearts of 2)

//Matte

I just got my SD3 also and have been making some progress.

It was definitely frustrating at first and this is a long set of instructions but it's how I got mine working.

By far, the best investment I've made is going by home depot, getting a 16"x20" piece of glass (~$10?) and a little $5 glass cutter, and a bottle of hair spray (new experience for a guy with a shaved-bald head!). Cut the glass into 8" squares.  Use sandpaper on the edges to avoid cutting yourself.  Spray on the hair spray on one side and let it dry.  Find some decent binder clips for holding it down (but not yet)...

Also - go buy some digital calipers from Harbor Freight at your first opportunity - they make calibration much easier with the different ways you can use them:
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-digital- … 68304.html

...And forget about printing thumbscrews for now...

(1) Screw down all of the leveling screws to about 3/8" sticking out of the nut on the bottom (aluminum bed).

(2) Run the z-stop screw down all the way and then back up about 1/4"

(3) Move the X and Y axes so the extruder is at the back right corner

(4) Home the z axis - there should be a gap between the bed and nozzle

(5) Turn the z stop screw counterclockwise (unscrew) about a turn

(6) Re-home the z-axis - the gap should be getting smaller

(7) Repeat the last two until you get the "business card" gap between the nozzle and the bed (at the back right corner)

(8) Screw down the front two leveling screws about 2 turns each.

(9) Move the nozzle (by X and Y moves) to the front right corner

(10) The nozzle should be about 1mm away from the bed

(11) Unscrew the front right leveling screw until you get the "business card" gap

(12) Move the nozzle (by X and Y moves) to the front left corner

(13) There should still be a bigger gap than you want

(14) Unscrew the front left leveling screw until you get the "business card" gap

(15) Now you're only left with fine adjustments.

(16) Keep moving around the corners and very slightly (maybe a quarter turn either way each time) until you're satisfied with the gap.

(17) Now, go back to the z-stop screw and screw it down until you can fit the glass underneath

(18) Clip the glass (sprayed side up) to the bed near the front on both sides and in the back middle.

(19) If you squeeze the handles of the binder clips, you can actually remove the handles

(20) Now you should readjust the z-stop screw with the glass in place for the nozzle to be at the "business card" gap

(21) At this point you should be able to go through the "first layers" calibration for the z-stop screw:
http://wiki.solidoodle.com/first-layers … e-z-offset

(22) Now that some plastic is sticking... Do this calibration for Slic3r:
http://richrap.blogspot.com/2012/01/sli … s-and.html
http://richrap.blogspot.com/2012/01/sli … t-and.html
http://richrap.blogspot.com/2012/01/sli … n-you.html
Trying to print multiples of this model worked well for the slic3r calibration:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:34553

(23) If your prints are skewed like mine were, do this:
http://vimeo.com/55031028

You'll probably have a hard time with the thumbscrews until you get an enclosure and an extruder fan mounted but it is possible - I got them printed after knocking many off the bed.  The problem is that the edges curl and catch on the nozzle - they get bumped off and then you have a mess.  Someone really should make some thumbscrews without the overhang (I might do that this weekend).

Good Luck!

DMGT

I bought 3 wing nuts at the local hardware store, put a drop of crazy glue on the wingnut threads and screwed them on a couple of turns and waited for the glue to set. Easy bed adjusting and you can easily break the crazy glue free if you need to with a hex on top and a crescent wrench on the wing nut...

TiM