So after my second evening of experimenting with my new PrintrBot + I’m having most of my prints come out with the final top layer looking very rough, it looks like the head is dragging through still soft plastic and deforming it.
But it doesn’t always do that. I tested a round washer and it’s top surface was also very rough, then after printing the superman shield, I printed a 3mm (same settings) which came out MUCH nicer.
I experimented with changing my Z offset which is at -0.2 right now. If I drop it from there, the first layer is very squished, if I raise it the first layer doesn’t always stick, so -0.2 seems to be the sweet spot for it.
Anyone here familiar with PrintrBot Metal Plus that knows what I’m doing wrong, or what I could do to troubleshoot this?
Filament: 3D Solutech PLA (190-220c) according to the packaging.
Cura Settings (Version 15.04)
Layer Height .2
Shell Thickness .8
Bottom/Top Thickness .8
Fill Density 100%
Print Speed 44
Printing Temp 210
Bed Temp 0
Flow% 100
Also, use your heated bed. I use 60 degrees for PLA on my Simple Metal. You may also want to play around with printing temp after you calibrate. I typically print PLA at 200 and have used 3D Solutech. The high print temp maybe cause extra plastic to drip onto your print. I recommend you calibrate your extruder before you do anything else though.
So here’s the good and the bad…first, welcome to the 3D printing family…the bad, you will get to intimately know your printer.
All joking aside, you’ll need to learn about calibrating the movement and storing updated settings into the printer. As the guys have already mentioned, you’ll need to calibrate the extruder. So when you ask for 50mm of filament it gives you that and not 70.
Post away though and we’ll help you close the gap.
@Adam_Steinmark I tested printed some pieces with my heated bed at 70 degrees, and the pieces either came loose or pealed up at the edges. I cleaned the surface extensively, then applied glue from a glue stick. But doing so resulted in very poor adhesion, any advice there?
For PLA either use the bare kapton or hairspray. Again, I keep my bed at 60 for most PLA. Of the PLA I’ve used, I’ve found only Printrbot’s sample to require higher hotend and bed temps. Play with the temps and never use glue stick unless on glass.
The x and y steps should never change. Ever. They are calculated. It’s determined by how many teeth the pulley has. Poor quality pulley might need to be calibrated, but would need to be calibrated with better tools than most people have.
e-steps are calibrated, that is because the effective diameter of the drive gear changes depending on the material you use (the teeth dig into the filament more or less). The extruder gear also isn’t precision machined as compared to a pulley.
Never fine-tune the extrusion through the appearance of the first few layers. The first few layers will tell you more about z calibration more than anything. The very first layer should always be squashed. The very nature of the slicing programs we use assume the filament will be squashed. They’ll even give errors if the settings are not made to do so.
Calibrate solid infill through tall objects. The tall object will help remove errors in z offset and calibration.
The first layer should have the same surface quality as your last. If it is not, your z offset is off.
Filament diameter is best measured with a micrometer. Accuracy and repeatability is key. Z offset should be set to a high degree of accuracy (the nearest 0.001mm if you can).
Once the filament is properly measured and e-steps calibrated, the extrusion multiplier should be used to fine-tune.
Bah just do what I did and bump the flow % down to 80% and then tweak it from there. I spent hours perfectly calibrating my extruder but always had that issue. Not perfect but as long as your shells still get good adhesion it works.
@Cornelius_Wiens Hairspray fumes are no worse than printing fumes and if you just spray a little it shouldn’t be bad for you at all. Even Printrbot recommends using is (for ABS but they still advocate its use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvvBX3LQ5As) @Ross_Bagley He’s using a Printrbot Plus. The bed is aluminum. Hairspray works best on aluminum beds. @AATHIF_AHMED_O_F 180c is too low of a printing temp for PLA, it will certainly cause clogs. I agree with E calibration. @Ryan_Hescock_Stanos That’s absolutely not what you want to do. That will just cause more calibration problems.
I have a simple metal with a heated bed. First put back the setting that were set at the factory. Then make sure you are using Cura version that has the metal simple metal profiles and use them. My PLA settings are from the profile Layer height .015 shell thinkness 1 bottom top thinkness .06 Print speed 95 print temp 210 bed temp 55 Use light coat of hair spray on the kapton tape that came with the printer. Remove the blue painters tape. Use Aquanet hairspray a couple light coats between prints is all you need. After several prints clean with Acetone and reapply hairspray coat.
