Hi all, I’m having endless issues with the edges of my pieces pulling up from the bed. (Using ABS, bed is at 115C) I’ve tried using double sided sticky tape on top of the kapton tape with no luck. What would my results be like if I printed directly onto glass? Any advice or suggestions are welcome.
Bare glass won’t work. Some people put a thin coating of ABS dissolved in acetone onto the glass. I use kapton that I’ve sanded with 220. My bed temp is 80C. I have excellent adhesion (so much that removing the prints can be difficult) when I print my first layer a little close and it causes the extruded plastic to squeeze outward a bit. You can legitimately tell your slicer that you want to do this, but I do it by starting a little too close to the platform. I believe using Aquanet hairspray on heated bare glass works but I have not tried that to know the ins and outs.
I use kapton with a thin coating of ABS juice. just a small piece of WHITE abs dissolved in acetone. colors tend to leave flakes and crap when dissolved.
I’m printing onto Kapton on glass, heated to 120°C for the first layer. You might need to bump your extrusion temperature for the first layer (what are you using at the moment?) and get rid of drafts, if there are any blowing across your printer.
If you have lifting from corners, consider making a large round “lilly pad” for the first layer to sit on to minimize lifting. Also, try cooling your ABS a little bit, and also enclosing your printer if it isn’t. That will help reduce shrinkage.
@Thomas_Sanladerer I’m at 245C on the extruder right now.
Pva glue mixed with a lot of water works well on glass. But it can be difficult to remove the pieces, so much it sometimes pulls shells of the glass
Not sure how it works with ABS, but for PLA I run my bed at 80C with a light dusting of hair spray. I cleaned the glass bed very good then gave it a light coating while the bed was about 40C. You have to touch up once in a while, but it’s usually good for 40-50 prints before you have to start over. Note: too much will give you a slight orange peel look on the bottom of your parts.
Hair spray on kapton works wonders. If it’s freshly applied kapton, or has been used a few times, I find that wiping it down with acetone will also greatly improve adhesion.
Kapton tape, abs juse (abs scraps and aceton), 80’c work gr8. Dont use nail polish buy industrial acethon.
@Nick_Kloski2 I was getting layer separation issues at 230.
You can use the"brim" feature in Slic3r, or a raft in KISSlicer, to create a larger perimeter on which your object can sit. Tends to reduce corner lifting.
Alright, resolved the sticking issue, but now dealing with it shifting either somewhere randomly in the print or even in the middle of the first layer.
Hairspray! The cheapest extra hold stuff you can find. The expensive stuff has additives that hinder adhesion. ABS juice works but its a pain in the ass. Also, consider raising the ambient temperature of your build area. The curling is a result of thermal contraction arising from the temperature gradient between the plastic’s glass transition state and its cooled state.
Not sure what printer you have but check all the belts are moving freely. I had an issue which was over a period of time the x belt was tracking across a pulley causing the stepper to jam and offset the printing process
I have a Bukobot. I’ve reset and checked the tensions on the synchromesh cables about a week ago.
Make sure your extruder is putting out a proper amount of plastic. If you over-extrude, you can snag on excess plastic and stall on a spot.
I ended up watching a print for hours until a found the problem, it was only doing once in a while, not in the same place, driving my mad, check linear bearings are running smoothly, stepper cogs are not slipping and the belts are true and not to tight.
@Tim_Rastall
Tim, I used hairspray on bare glass for a time, and I loved how parts would just pop up on their own once cooled. But I stopped once I discovered it tends to shrink the bottom layers, and by a lot. See https://plus.google.com/photos/117324667497119008450/albums/posts/5895356766211711746?pid=5895356766211711746&oid=117324667497119008450 This has been witnessed by jebba from Lulzbot as well. On a part made of a flat thick plate with holes 30mm apart, the printed dimension was 29mm. Definitely bad if you need precise parts. I do not print vases.
I now use ABS juice on PET tape, and it works very well even if a little harder to remove parts. Some people think they need to apply a paste… Not so! The ABS film it leaves on the bed when acetone evaporates is not even visible.
All good advice above. I solved this by making a clear vinyl bag to put over my printer. Makes a world of difference and my bed heats up a bit faster too. The “Shifting” mentioned is very likely a skipped step in X or Y (assuming all the mechanical stuff is well tightened.). I set my stepper gain by turning it all the way down till it can’t move the axis at all, then dialing it up slowly till the axis moves smoothly.