I have not changed any settings from the standard options configured by following the online manual.
You will see from the pictures that one side near the corner has a number of “blobs” This was the left side towards the the back. I have seen how they are formed - the nozzle drops slightly more filament on the layer and then pushes it off the side as it lays down the rest of the layer. Not sure why though.
The rough finish on the sides I am assuming (from what I have read) is down to movement on the Z motor or thread. I will try printing a better Z-motor mount to see it helps.
I am not too disappointed with the results for a first print (well 3rd if you count a couple of aborted prints - nozzle too high) but hope to refine things as I get more experienced.
the main reason for that the cube is a bit “rough” is probably the nozzle temperature.
There are spots that are indicative of to high temperature (where the plastic looks like a liquid).
First check the placement of your NTC is it placed in the little hole and not outside (this could lead to bad temperature readings and a to high nozzle temperature)
Secondly check the temperature curve view in Repetier when the nozzle is at PLA printing temperature. It should be a nice wave curve without any spikes. The temperature should be between 190° and 220° (220° is already a bit to high)
Lastly you can manually alter the printing temperature in slic3r.
Succes on the next print it can only go beter from here.
I checked the thermistor on the extruder and it was not fully in the hole. I have corrected this and will try again.
Temperature curve looks good. A nice wave between about 188 and 192.
One question - should White PLA behave the same as Black PLA? - I have just swapped to white and I am having trouble with getting it to stick to the bed. Both are Velleman products. I have a piece of glass on the hot bed and I had no trouble with getting black to stick.
Make sure your bed is clean of any oils or grease.
Also check to make sure the Z axis is properly calibrated.
I also run my bed temp around 60C while the room temp is at or above 72F and no draft blowing on the bed.
there is indeed a difference in behavior for the different colors of filament. You will have to find out what works best for you.
As for the PLA not sticking to the mirror, just make sure it is grease-free. Wipe clean with piece of cloth, no need for solvent.
Are you sure you bought white PLA? Didn’t by any chance buy ABS?
Definitely PLA - I have bought both but only tried the PLA so far.
I have tried the glass bed as clean as I can make it, but things still slip. What I have now tried is lowering the nozzle so close to the bed that the first layer is pretty much a “smear” of plastic. This seems to stop the slipping.
However I still get curling at the edges of larger flat objects. I have been trying to print a circular frame which is about 100mm inside diameter and 125mm external diameter and about 3mm thick. I have had to use hairspray (and lots of it) to prevent the edges curling up.
I would be interested to know if there are any best practises for designing thin flat objects so that they don’t curl up. I am thinking about the thickness of the solid layers, the type of infill etc.
hello
there is a nice sollution i think for this, i use it allready since 3 months and it works great, i use a mirror of 20cm x20 cm covered with blue painters tape of 50 mm wide
when using a mirror and blue painters tape for printing PLA, you just wait for the bed to cool down after printing.
Your print will ‘pop off’, no force needed.
P.S. The height of the steel bar is adjusted so that the glass plate just fits under it, but the knife blade does not. When you have pressed one knife blade under the object and it still doesn’t come loose, use a second knife blade from the other side.
it can only go beter from here.
