1 Topic by dish (edited by dish 2013-12-28 22:32:17)

  • dish
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Topic: I'm having issues with my Solidoodle 3

Hey, I'm having an issue with my printer and was wondering if anyone here could offer some advice/help or point me in the right direction. I think some of these are easy fixes and I'm just not seeing the solutions, others might be more difficult.

Here are the different problems I'm having:

1. The skirt doesn't stick to the platform. It helps if I make the skirt larger, but it seems no matter what I do, the first bit of the skirt never sticks to the platform and gets in the way of the first layer of the print (I've tried wiping the nozzle off even as the print job is starting). I use an acetone-ABS mixture to prime the heated platform and that works for the first layer, but not for the skirt.

2. The nozzle is hitting previous layers of the print. This is a new issue I'm experiencing. When I do get the skirt out of the way, after the first two or three layers, the nozzle starts hitting and peeling up previous layers of the print. I recently moved and just started working with the printer again. Before I moved this was not a problem (for 3 or 4 completed jobs);

3. The first layer of the finished job is really low quality. Whether I do .3 or .1 mm layer heights, the first layer is always awful. Even if I try to smooth it with acetone upon completion, it still looks really, really bad (worse, actually).

4. Slic3r is printing parts with separate perimeters as one perimeter. Specifically the gear bearing from thingiverse (since it's a recommended starter print job). I think this might just be because I need to increase the size of the actual part, but even at .1 mm it connects the gears to the ring (or prints them so close that they fuse). Is there another setting I'm missing that would improve this?

I've been printing small cubes (~1 cubic inch) as my test prints for all of these problems, 215 degrees for the nozzle and 105 for the print bed. I've been fiddling with the Z-axis and it looks to be about .3 mm away from the the nozzle tip (using calipers). the first layer of the print is always done at .3 mm.

2 Reply by wardjr

  • wardjr
  • wardjr
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Re: I'm having issues with my Solidoodle 3

Sounds like you have a few different issues.
1st is your Z-height needs to be closer to the platform when you home it.  Lots of different opinions on this but just keep trying your test cube and kill the job till it sticks good.  Your temps seem about right.
2nd level your bed at all four corners.
3rd it sounds like you are over extruding so it is time to calibrate it.
http://www.soliwiki.com/Calibration_of_ … on_stepper
and your extrusion multiplier  http://www.soliwiki.com/Calibration_of_the_flow_rate
If none of this helps let me know I'll do my best to get you up and running.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

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3 Reply by Claghorn

  • Claghorn
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  • From: Delray Beach, FL
  • Registered: 2012-10-22
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Re: I'm having issues with my Solidoodle 3

I was just recalibrating my flow rates today using a test cube. I set slic3r to print just one layer on the bottom, and it was easy to see when the nozzle didn't start close enough to the bed as there were big gaps between the lines of filament. I just kept backing off the Z-stop screw till I got a cube that seemed to have a uniform bottom layer that was all joined together.

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