First Layer Printing

Indeed. lol. But I believe it to be an issue with the newest Mac OS X 10.10. I'm going to look into it more when I get my sick son settled in with a movie.

I'm in the middle if a spool holder print and although I'm getting good results I'm still having an issue with a perfect first layer as well as top layers. More work to do i guess.

 

Well, I printed the first side to the spool holder and again, good print but first layer could have been better but this holder is a nice long bit that was perfect for checking bed level and i found issues. I tuned it in (on medium setting) by hand, twisting the threaded rods (slightly each time) till I got the bead almost perfect (printed the first layer 8-10 times) but it was still a bit low on back left, so I put a little piece of paper in the magnet hole and tried again. WOW, what a first layer but it would still catch the hot end on the print bead and ruin its self on the sharp corners, bummer, so I had a pause to think (coffee and smoke break) and went into the settings and saw the first layer was set to 3 and I brought it down to 2 and tried again. Well hot damn I got a 99% perfect layer! I also, for the spool holder, brought bottom and top layers up to 6, made it a nice strong part and I now understand that setting well.

Taking the time to make sure your bed and hot end are level to each other is a huge deal, wow. I had done an ok job but after reading this page: http://www.printedsolid.com/firstlayer/ I went and spent a few hours getting it perfect and its sooooooooo worth it. WOW. I'll post pics tomorrow, My son's in bed and I'm watching the second half of the spool holder print, and I'm on beer #3.

 

Thomas, you were correct, by doing the configuration set up and then turning off print leveling in MatterControl, my first layers are now better. I'm still have big problems when it prints the 2nd and 3rd layers, which could be a problem with the first layers not being perfect. Also having problems when it tries to print support material and tries to print over a larger area. I can print the calibration cube and it turns out pretty good, but anything larger gets really messed up. The first layer looks OK, but when it starts to fill in area's it looks like that head is too low and starts dragging filament that has already been layed down and when it does support structure it really messes things up.

I think the problem maybe what you talk about in your above post about, get the first layer exact.

So I have a few questions and would like your opinion on what would be a good large area item to test print.

1. There is a setting in the menu's that addresses adjusting your Z level, could you check to see what yours is set at. Mine is set at 1. This is not the startup Gcode area, this is in the menus

2. I have the Robo R1, enclosed bottom, how do you hand twist the threaded rods, mine are threated into mental couples that are connected to the motors. Could you explain at little more about twisting the threaded rods, can you just twist the rods and it won't hurt the motors???

3. What would you recommend for a large test print, something that covers more of the bed than the calibration cube. I would like to be able to print something with the same paramaters in MatterControl that you are using and compare results. I could print the first layer and show you how it turns out, if its not as good as it should be, then maybe you could point me in a direction to fix it.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

 

@Robert Choban

ok. I'll upload a couple pics of a bottom layer I was really happy with. I have a print running right now and with the slightly unstable nature of MatterControl on Mac OS X I'm almost scared to click anything. lol. But I'll go through my settings and upload screen shots or maybe export the settings for you. try both.

If your getting a good bottom layer but its messing up the fills and so on you might have a filament feed issue going on, when it starts to mess things up, kill the print and remove filament and see if there is any grinding going on. have you seasoned the hot end? printed and started using an oiler? Both seasoning and using an oiler really cleaned up fill issues, for me it was uneven filament feed that made it look like the hot end was dragging and messing it up but in truth it was a lack of filament feed.

So, I'll get some settings up for you real soon here. As for Z level, I see 2 different Z'ds: Printer, General, Z Offset = 1 OR Filament, Filament, Z Lift = .5

I'm running, right now, Medium with a .2 layer and .2 first layer. I find when first layer is set to .3 as default the hot end drags on it and kills it

As for turning the threaded rods, yes I do mean just twist them, clockwise for up. Sometimes there is resistance, don't do it then. But when they turn freely, go for it. I twist very very little, about 1 mm worth of twist at a time, this is very fine tuning. For an image to print, use the spool holder I just printed, covers lots of area: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:267039. I set to 6 layer bottom and top, strong part and it gives you lots of time to twist rods and get real OCD on it. Get in there! haha

 

Thomas, thanks for the info. I will give it a try, I have seasoned the hotend and I do use an oiler. I like you idea of checking the filament feeder and the hobble bolt to see if it is cutting into the filament, when it start to mess up.
I'm using blue tape and you are not, could this be a problem with my prints. What are you using, have you tried hair spray.
When you twist the rods, does the hot end stay at the level for all prints, or do you have to adjust the rods for each different print.

 

You should only need to adjust the rods once unless some change like temperature or adding or removing blue tape (or dropping the printer) alters the bed to nozzle height significantly.

I have not adjusted mine in many prints.

 

Thomas, I'm printing the spool holder that you sent me, it says it will talk about 15 hours to print does that sound about right. When I do a view of it in matter control, it shows the part of the spool holder that holds the spool is pointing down. These means that there is a lot of support material that has to be created to hold the main body of the holder, is this correct. Does it start by printing support material first or do I need to re-orient the object. And how do I do that in mattercontrol.

 

I would reorient it. click edit under the spinning model and you can rotate and what not there. Took me 4-5 hours.

 

What are you using to hold the item to the bed, I'm using blue tape.
I was able to re-orient it.

 

For blue tape do not heat the bed. If you're still having adhesion issues wipe the blue tape over with methylated spirits. You still need to make sure your bed is level and you're printing the first layer at the right height.

 

Ive tried a few things. Glue sticks, hair spray, plain. I find I'm getting great results with a bed heated up to 70 and when hot, rub a light layer of elders glue stick. I'm using "Elmer's Washable School Glue Stick, Disappearing Purple" When prints are done. I let it cool all the way down and the print has let go, or only needs a tiny bit of help. Then I run scraper over glue layer to ruff it up and go again. Every so often I scrape glue off and start over as it only lasts so long i guess.

I think it was Edit. rotate or something. Cant bring it up now as mine is running at the moment. I will soon.

Edit, rotate, Y axis. Then save when done

 

printing first layers was looking really good, but then when it started to fill in, it looks like the x axis shifted, no idea why. Take a look at the included photo's. Very strange.

 

I had that happen last night. I messed with my bed heater cable to again ensure it was keeping to the left and it stopped. might be worth checking. Im going to make a guide for it.

 

heater cable looks good, in the right place, I 'll try printing again and see what happens.
Seems like this is a problem with the x axis, the heater cable usually affects the Y axis if I remember correctly

 

Yea, that is strange indeed. Mine was 100% Y axis, hard to tell from the pic, doesn't really have a frame of reference to angle but i would guess your went out in both X and Y? Are your tape strips across the X axis? If so I'd say it was your Y axis that went off.

 

Think I found the problem, I'm using the spool holder that came with the ROBO, it sits off to the side, I think the spool was binding and pulling the X axis to the left. That's one reason I'm print this spool holder, It look like its printing OK now I just have to watch the spool hold to make sure it doesn't bind up. Will let you know how the print goes.

 

Hi Robert, That first layer might be very slightly too low/squished. Is the nozzle dragging on the right side of the holder or is that where the filament got bound up?

I think I told you this before, if you are going to teach a class with the printer be very careful with the top mounted spool holder designs. It is really easy for a student to accidentally knock the spool off. It makes a very bad mess of the glass bed when it hits. for the class consider something like this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:516790 . It is very simple to make but does require some drilling for the screw holes.

 

I can appreciate the desire for a spool to be side mounted in a situation with kids for sure but the top loader I'm using has a pin inside a pin, i can barely get the rolls on and off myself and with the big "feet" under the cover holding it on they are a real Bi#@h to get on and off, I haven't bothered trying to remove them yet, too much effort for sure.

We are bringing mine into our school in the new year so each class can have a turn voting on and making an object. Even though I wouldn't believe for a second anyone could accidentally knock a spool of the one I am using, I'll probably switch to a side mount, just in case. I've seen a few that I didn't like at all, I like the top mount for the direct filament feed but with a filament feeder in use they seem ok.

My issue has always been avoiding having the filament drag against the very poorly cut slot in the top of the printer. IMHO it should have had an insert in that slot with a very smooth side or rolling bearing to ensure smooth filament travel. OR, something I would like to look into making, a spool holder that turns with the feed like the spool holders on my wide format printers. I'm thinking, but I don't know yet, there must be a way of getting a signal from the Audrino board to another stepper that could be used to drive a spool holder then use a bearing feed system in the slot on top for perfect filament action.