Unanswered 3D Printing Newbie

Hey guys, I'm an Industrial Design student in Louisiana, i got my ROBO 3D R1 printer in today, and tried my first print with all default settings with the MatterControl software just to see how it would come out and it wasn't too pretty. Can anyone suggest generic settings to use with PLA? Like I've said I'm totally new at this, so any tips are greatly appreciated.

 

Obviously doesn't look pretty but its kind of hard to tell what's wrong. Try a test cube to begin with. I'll send over the settings I use when I get home.

P.S. Congradulations on your printer! It takes a while and some patience, but these can be really food printers! We're here to help!

 

* good , sang auto correctly

 

Thanks! I'd really appreciate having somewhere to start, so that I at least know what WORKS, then I can go from there testing things out. It seems to bee leaving gaps between the passes, some gaps are rather large, and its doing this strange step-over thing to where it will be making a straight line, then it steps over to the next line to finish that pass. This is all on the initial starting passes for the base that sticks to the bed.

Ive drawn in RED on the first image so you can see the step-over and gaps I'm referring to. The second image shows where its leaving stray filament hanging over the edge...

 

The bottom part of the print you are describing is called a raft and you can probably turn it off (I have never used it on mine). The line switching just has to do with the commands being sent to it by the computer, as like long as its only doing that on the raft its probably normal. As for the extra plastic, is that happening only on the raft? Print a cube/ box without a raft and see how it goes!

 

Let's try this

First off change your slicer from MatterSlice to a different one. I prefer cura engine but Slic3r is also pretty good. This is under the advanced controls > configuration > Application Settings

This should resolve the gapping issues on the first print

Then let's verify the Z_steps per mm. This is under the eeprom settings. It should be 2560 if you have M8 rods. Count the threads in 1in to be sure, M8 = ~20 threads per in

With that set up we now need to adjust our Z offset. From your picture you're still a little too high off the build surface.

For Slic3r and MatterSlice there is a Z offset setting in the printer > general tab of the slice settings. Reduce this value a bit. Start with .2mm and then adjust .1mm at a time till you get a smooth first layer. IE if it's currently 1mm, try .8mm, then .7, etc.

For CuraEngine it's a bit more complicated but not bad.

Under printer there's custom G-code. There's a line: M565 Z0 This defines your Z offset.

Set this to your offset value using a negative.

IE: If your offset is 1mm, use M565 Z-1.0

If you want to reduce that value try M565 Z-0.8

More negative = further from the bed.

It's kinda confusing because of the way the robo autolevels but it's logical once you understand why.

 

Thanks for taking the time to help me everyone. I am using just a test cube I made in Rhino, that is 1"x1"x1/4" This is my next attempt after changing the settings you suggested, including the swap to Cura. I does look better but still way off from where it should be. Its still got slight gapping between the layers which seems odd to me. In every gap, you will see a tiny "step-over" I mentioned earlier, but its WAY better than the first attempt, now i have other issues...

In the 1st image, I'd like to know 2 things...
1. Why the perimeter box around my cube now has diagonal corners since i swapped to Cura (used to have 90 degree corners)
2. Why did the first 2 passes for my cube offset the way they did?

In the 2nd and 3rd images you can just see how TERRA-bad it printed lol. The top surface incredibly horrible, and 2 of the sides of the cube are offset back and forth, the opposite 2 sides are almost perfect. They don't look perfect in my images, but they are really smooth to me holding it.

In the 4th image i wanted to show the BOTTOM side of the cube. Its nice and smooth obviously but maybe you can determine where my problems began...

5th Image is just the top again at a different angle so you can see it better. Its extremely jagged like sandpaper and obviously not closed and smooth like it should be. Its a simple cube from Rhino 3d (exported to STL).

Also, after swapping to Cura, i didn't see any "raft" options under the raft category, everything under that tab looks like it pertains to skirt.

More suggestions? Is there a forum where all these settings are explained in detail so i actually know what I'm doing when i adjust something?

 

I just did a test model from the pre-made library, same exact outcome. Every time, the top is all broken and choppy, feels like sand paper, and the front and back sides (guessing thats the Y axis) are always offset every layer, and the left and right sides are nearly perfect. Also just as a note, I'm still using the PLA that came with my printer from ROBO 3D, in case anyone was wondering.

So what else can i try?

 

1. stop using the PLA that comes with the Robo. It's horrible. 2. Make sure all belts and pullies are tight and snug. 3. Try adding another layer to the top/bottom.

 

Oh, ok I assumed they'd send quality material with their machines... :-/ The bad thing, is that I ordered a roll of PLA and a roll of ABS from Amazon (Hatchbox Brand) and they sent me two rolls of ABS, so I sent one of the ABS's back and I'm waiting on my new PLA. I could try out the ABS, but would I have to adjust everything or just swap it to ABS settings?

 

You just need to change bed temp and nozzle temp for abs. ABS is prone to warping though. So test with small parts and work your way up with abs

 

Ok I'm going to start with the small test cube, its only about 3/4" square. Whats a good bonding agent for the bed with ABS? Ive read either a mixture of ABS + acetone, or just sugar water. Ive ordered some Kapton Polyamide tape just to play around with also.

EDIT: I just stumbled across this BuildTak material. Is it worth trying?

 

You can just try hairspray. I would suggest putting down painters tape then using an ABS slurry. I get bad warping with ABS so I don't use it.

 

Looks like you have some slippage in the Y direction as well. Lift up the bed and make sure everything is tight / snug. The belt, idlers, and gear.

To get a better top surface increase the number of top layers.

At some point calibrate your extruder too.

 

Abs is hard to print with. For small tests I don't think it should matter what you use. Easiest fix, add more top and layers. You're using cura in matter control? The actual program has different options, you might want to play around with it. If the offset edges are on the sides, that would be a problem with the x-axis (horizontal). Make sure the belt it very tight, not sure what else could cause that to happen.

 

BTW Hatchbox ABS isn't 100% ABS. If you were planning on acetone smoothing, esun filament is cheap too and seems to work well.

 

The offset edges are front and back of my cube if your looking straight onto the front of the printer. Nothing "feels" loose to me, but then again, I have no idea what "normal" should be. Something strange has been going on all this morning. It keeps trying to heat up, then right before it gets to the target temperature, it just quits, both the bed heater and extruder heater shuts off and it tells me my model is done... :-/ when I removed the bed to check to see if everything was tight, one of the magnets on the bottom of the bed decided it liked the other magnet more than the glue holding it to the bed and came detached from the bed... is there a specific type of glue i can use to re-glue it?

EDIT:
Id like to add, one thing I thought was a little shady since I unboxed the ROBO 3D was that the threaded Z rods wobble (mostly at the top)... Why aren't they bracketed at the top like the smooth rods?... Doesn't make sense to me.

 

Robo3d recommended super glue after I broke my bed. If its the front and back it would be the y axis, my bad. Try just unplugging everything. Otherwise, your temp issue could be a number if things.