I got lucky with the Stratasys last night. Left it running over night. When I woke up I saw a build that walked the line between success and spaghetti. At some point the nozzle knocked the support structure off. Somehow the spaghetti made a recovery though.
Didn’t know stratasys can fail.
Yes, it’s not too common but things get weird with them sometimes. I think one of the z end stops got moved on my machine because I was having a terrible time getting the parts to stick to the platform. Luckily I found the software used by technicians to service and troubleshoot the machines. With that I was able to adjust the home position of the platform without trying to manually move the end stop .020"
It is very picky about how much the filament swells in the barrel. I completely gave up on using a roll from Inventables. Although that particular filament was one I was having a difficult time with in my RepRap’s PEEk barrel. I don’t want to knock it too much but that roll seems to have a lot of volatiles, and maybe mineral oil, in it as well.
Some of the material I’m using is not OEM so there is that argument. But at the end of the day it shouldn’t be the cause of the support material getting knocked off.
That ABS build plate – do you generally love it, hate it, or meh?
There are some pros and cons about it that are interdependent. It requires the use of a raft because it is not nearly as flat as glass (it actually has a grid molded into it). But as long as you have the proper initial z height parts stick to it well. The good thing about the raft is that as long as the z carriage is not too out of level it automatically makes a surface parallel to the xy plane. It is much easier to remove the parts from it than it has been for me to remove some parts from my sanded kapton bed. The major down side is that they are normally about $4 each and it is not too easy to scrape the material off. You can’t see it in the photos but the very first layer to go on the bed is a squished out and widely spaced layer of ABS. After that it makes the raft out of HIPS. The material that really gets stuck to the bed is the first bit of ABS. I’ll post a photo of the initial layer shortly.
At one point I actually considered ordering some of these for my RepRap but the bottoms of them are not flat so I don’t think they would work well for a heated bed. Whereas the Stratasys has the heated chamber which is at 75C.
@Kurt_Wendt uses those plates as well, IIRC, and I think he said he’s found a way to make them last longer. Right Kurt?
In the print preview the bed shows the same grid. I’m guessing it’s there just for reference as it doesn’t offer any mechanical/adhesion advantages.
Hey Joseph - thanks for mentioning me. Sorry I don’t always review my Gmail & Google+ stuff, but, will try to be better about that.
And - Ben - sorry for such a late reply.
So - U are actually using Filament NOT created by StrataSys?
As for Joseph comment - I sand off the build plates. Even if they are a little messy - as long as you run your hand over the plate and it seems smooth - it actually WORKS to re-use the plates. Although - will admit - I only use those re-used plates for my own projects, or for returning clients who want to try and keep pricing down.
Also - U didn’t specifically mention in this posting - are you using a Mojo - or a UPrint? You also mentioned that the Rafts are made out of HIPS - but, AFAIK - its actually PLA!
@Kurt_Wendt I have a Dimension 768 BST. What works best for me to clean the ABS off the build plates is a chisel grip exacto knife with a #18 blade. The plastic cuts off like butter with minimal damage to the plate.
I was using HIPS from Ultimachine butit does not bond well enough to the ABS model materials I have been using. I was using it through some eeprom hacks. An alternate source that provides material and eeproms is Argyle Materials. Their material is more or less as good as the OEM stuff. The rafts and support material is a butadiene styrene copolymer or a blend of polystyrene and butadiene (HIPS) - http://www.stratasys.com/~/media/Main/Secure/MSDS/P400-R/MSDS_US_P400R_English.pdf
@Ben_Malcheski - I’d love to have you try the HIPS from us… I can send you a small amount if you drop me a line – or I can send you a discount code on a full spool…
@Joseph_Chiu I would really like to try it since I’m paying too much for the Argyle stuff, they provide eeproms but it’s still over priced. At the moment I don’t have an eeprom that I can spare on a non-oem spool though. I’ve been having some problems with the eeprom encryption tools.
You can still send me a coupon code and I will order once I get it working. To be upfront, it may take a while.
@Ben_Malcheski just drop me a line when you’re ready. Our coupon codes rotate and expire at various times. Easier to issue a new one when you’re ready…
@Joseph_Chiu I’ve gotten the refill trick working. I’d love to try out some of your HIPS support. Thanks!