1 Topic by Toley

  • Toley
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  • Registered: 2014-01-16
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Topic: Solidoodle 4 sticking problem

Hello we just buy a Solidoodle 4 at my work and we have a lot of difficulty to make a complete print. The edge of the print are always bending and the head finished by knocking the print as a result the piece move and the print fails.

I have measured the temperature of the print surface and it's well under 100C I would say it's around 70-80C after many minutes of heating even if in Repetier-Host it said the 105C is reached.

I really think there is a misconception of the heating bed. Maybe this is caused by the emplacement of the temperature sensor (the heat under the bed is not representative of the heat over the bed), or there is not enough power to heat the bed correctly.

As I can see on this forum, this seems to be a problem since the first version of the printer. Is there something the designing team are planning to do to overcome this problem ?

The best way we found to date is to raise (by external heating element) the temperature of the bed.

2 Reply by ggunners

  • ggunners
  • ggunners
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  • From: Chantilly, VA USA
  • Registered: 2013-12-03
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Re: Solidoodle 4 sticking problem

Clean the Kapton with Acetone and apply some Elmer's glue stick works for me.

Make sure you have a good z-stop calibrated too. It will squish the first layer onto the bed but without deforming the edges too much when it's set right.

-- ggunners

SD2 Expert stock, ABS fume fan,
XYZ DaVinci 1.0 stock ABS, Simplify3D
QUBD Two-Up PLA, new 3D printed X gantry, Y idler, flex z coupler, extruder mount, E3D Lite

3 Reply by MolecularConcept

  • MolecularConcept
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  • Registered: 2013-06-03
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Re: Solidoodle 4 sticking problem

also might  want to think about printing on glass with a light dusting of hairspray. the glass is held on the bed by those big binder clips.  its a cheap modification and really helps alot. I think mostly everyone that prints ABS uses glass and hairspray, of course theres always some exceptions

4 Reply by Claghorn

  • Claghorn
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  • From: Delray Beach, FL
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Re: Solidoodle 4 sticking problem

And for really stubborn curling, print a brim using slow speed for the 1st layer and when it is almost finished with the brim, paint some "secret sauce" on it (which is why you want slow speed so you can get the brush in there without the nozzle catching up with it). That holds down the brim something fierce, and the brim holds down the rest of the print.

("secret sauce" is 50-50 acetone/MEK with a little ABS dissolved in it).

Claghorn's Website

5 Reply by MolecularConcept

  • MolecularConcept
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Re: Solidoodle 4 sticking problem

yes MEK is way better than acetone.

6 Reply by knowack

  • knowack
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  • From: Columbia, MO
  • Registered: 2013-12-05
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Re: Solidoodle 4 sticking problem

For one particularly stubborn item, I used blue painter's tape on the bed of my SD4.  For all other prints, I print directly onto the bed without hairspray, secret sauce, or anything else...although I do occasionally print a brim around smaller objects (<10mm square).

I went through the calibration steps, although the SD4 was nearly spot-on right out of the box.