I’m having some more problems, the first layer of this print comes out fine but the second layer doesn’t seem to want to adhere to the first. I can’t think of what could be causing this, I’ve tried physically lowering the z axis during the print, but it only helps for a short while.
Is your Z steps/mm calibrated?
@Carlton_Dodd , yes all my axis’ are calibrated
Is your layer height half of nozzle diameter? I don’t know exact number but it should be around <60% (for example 0.5mm nozzle 0.3mm layer hight is normal)
My nozzle diameter is 0.4, I have never heard of that concept. I always thought that the minimum layer height was the diameter of the nozzle.
What filament are you using and what temperature have you got set for the hot end and the bed?
PLA from Jet, printing at 210, no heat to the bed
Filament can absorb moisture and that seems to affect adhesion. Try baking it to dehumidify it. I don’t remember what temperature for that, off hand, but lots of people do it and Google knows everything.
@Jason_Doege I just opened this spool it was vacuum packed with a desiccant.
@Aaron_Leclair Layer height can’t be same as nozzle size. I think that is issue you are having. Try using 0.2mm layer height with your 0.4mm nozzle.
@Mateusz_Perlak I’ll try it with 0.2mm, 0.3mm seems to be an improvement.
@Mateusz_Perlak No significant improvement with a lower layerheight.
@Aaron_Leclair Then something’s causing your Z to move more than it should. I’d recheck the Z steps/mm.
@Jason_Doege - A good baseline for temperature for drying is 80C. A couple hours at this temp will generally do all it’s going to.
@Aaron_Leclair - As others have mentioned, these could be moisture problems, it could be an otherwise bad batch of plastic (there are several things that can go wrong chemically in the production). Try hotter and cooler temps (it could be that the temp your nozzle is reporting is off) as you could be baking it or not getting it hot enough. Also try slowing down; go depressingly slow just to rule out that factor and get a baseline for the sake of investigation. Failing those, try another plastic - either from a different supplier, or at the very least from a different batch (bought at a different time, or a different color, etc., most manufacturers will put batch numbers on their products).
What does your first layer look like? From what I can see in the photo it does not look that great. Have you calibrated your extruder? http://reprap.org/wiki/Triffid_Hunter’s_Calibration_Guide
@Carlton_Dodd , the z height is fine.
@Alex_English I’ll try that out just to be certain, Jet isn’t known for consistency with their PLA.
@Muhammad_Darwish I do that with every filament that I use, on a regular basis. it did help a little bit near the start but not for long, so I think that it isn’t the direct cause for the problem but was making it significantly more noticeable.
@Troy_Sorzano I’ll try to get a better picture, it doesn’t show well in photographs, I’ll have to fiddle with my camera settings. I’ll check out Triffid Hunter’s guide in the meantime.
Take the temperature up 10 degrees and see what happens at 220.
Then drop it to 200 and see what happens.
And maybe clean the nozzle
I’ve got a spool of filament that won’t bond properly (although not that badly). If I turn up the temperate 5C if turns too runny. I can’t win. Other spools are fine.
As suggested, try raising your temp in 5C steps and see if it helps.
@Aaron_Leclair here is the prusa calc try modifying your firmware with the numbers generated from the calculators. Leave the extruder steps alone though. But also change your x and y just in case. It truly appears to be a z problem. there is no smushing of the second layer once it raises from the first. also check if there is any mechanical slop in your z or bed leveling system. you know springs with little to no tension for the bed or loose allens on couplers for the lead screws
Careful! Don’t let the NSA or such like see that photo! It looks a little bit like an attempt to 3D print a gun.