PLA not sticking and a lot of disorder in the prient

First let me say that PLA is the most problematic for me as well. It either sticks really great or not at all... I almost never have issues with ABS.

Try the Kapton tape/painters tape over the bed. That plus some GlueStik applied before the print can help a lot (it certainly does with ABS). You can try the blue tape w/o any gluestik as well (that actually is a happier combination for me with PLA).

Also make certain your Z axis is correctly positioned. There are a number of threads on this. Your filament should have a flat (not rounded on top) look when the head lays a bead. With my efforts if the Z was too high the filament would not stick.

However today I had a model that just would NOT stick and work with PLA and when I switched to ABS it was almost flawless...so clearly I still have some tweaking to do in some cases with PLA

 

In a general sense: not usually. In specific: every roll of material I have tried (7 so far) has varied a little on the 'sweet' spot. SO while 220 might be the suggested nozzle temperature, 225 might work better (or down a little, you get the idea). I run a couple of small test prints though a spool and see what it looks like and adjust from there. When I find a sweet spot I write it on the spool.

Generally, other issues (like the bed not being level or the Z is a bit too high/too low) will be the first things to check.

I assume you are using Repetier, some of the other software (like Cura) has other issues that need to be tweaked in the settings for the printer to work well. Cura really does tend to use too fast of a print speed for almost everything.

 

At 80C, you'll get crystallization of the PLA and excessive shrinkage, which will cause the print to lift.
You should be able to print without heating the bed at all, but if you are wanting to heat it to make sticking a little easier while you are learning, try 55 max.

 

Just bump the numbers in small increments (5-10 degrees max) and ses what you get. You should not need to heat the bed more than little for PLA (and that really should not be needed).

Try the tape. Ff you are going to print directly on the glass use hairspray (although my results with hairspray have been hit-or-miss). Sounds like you might want to try bumping the extruder temp a bit (small increments).

I never used the sample filament they sent, but as I said each roll can be different...you are probably going to want more anyway Once it does start to work you will probably go through it pretty quickly.

 

While 'level' in a normal sense is probably a good thing, generally what they mean by bed level is the Z axis is consistent across the bed. I have no idea how close to 'level' (like you are doing) my bed is--probably not hideous, but it is not true level--but the Z axis is tight and consistent pretty much everywhere.

Tesseract has some good threads on this:

http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/ind...n-i-dare-ya-put-me-down-again.1326/#post-8751

http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/index.php?threads/your-bed-a-preemptive-solution.1116/

and this is good stuff too:

http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/index.php?threads/just-got-your-printer-things-to-keep-in-mind.1161/

 

While I resisted adding the spring loaded bed levelers Tesseract provided (it is a bit of work to print and then install them) I eventually added them and love it. I now easily set/check the level to just about any consistency.

 

If you're designing in metric, maybe it is defaulting to cm or m when it should be mm, so you should only need to scale by a factor of 10 or 1000.
Adjust your settings for your design program so that your default units are in mm and you should be in good shape.

 

first of all I can almost gaurantee the reasons you prints are not sticking the orignal z height above the bed
you are having intermittent problems on many s
urfaces and the soluition is to adjust the z height adjustment screw
I can immediately tell by your prints and specifically the skirt around your print your z adjustment is too high it was very in the last picture in you early post

the fine adjustments on this printer are primarily done visually but people are in such a hurry to get a print they never stop to get it right. They go ahead and let it finish good or bad. The skirt is probably the most important aspect of how a print is going down on the bed surface

Look at this image notice ther skirt in this image it is flattened and yet solid
THAT should be the starting point for eveyr print ABS PLA NYLON LAYWOOD PHA the main thing that layer is PUT DOWN on the bed surface. If you see in this image there is a single line that seems higher than the rest that happened when I lifted the extruder chassis manually and that line was the result most novice printers who have issues with their prints sticking have several of those high lines as their first layer and they are all way too high. I can't blame them for the mistake because visually it actually looks ok if you do not know what it should look like.

Your skirt looks like that single high line and that is why your prints are lifting it is actually quite simple

your filament is being set down gently on the bed and it will move and lift and pop off

In this image you see my skirt as the outermost ring but if youlook carefully you see it is actually teo loops thinks but it is flattened enough to make it appear as one line that should be your goal for now

FOLLOW this rule and you will be better off and not waste your time or filament

"Look at your skirt if it is good continue with the print if it is bad STOP the print right there make the adjustments and restart. Repeat as long as the skirt looks bad"

now as far as what you use on your bed to get it to stick better
The debate is wide and varied but as you can see in this printer my solution is hairspray and glass for PLA and ABS (won;t go into the others)

I use this for several reasons
number one it works when the first layer is PUT down properly.
bu that is not a good enough reason the other methods will also work IF the first layer is OUT down properly these include such a wide variety it is not even funny:

Blue tape, Glue stick, Kapton tape, Cardboard, Newspaper, Masking tape, Acetone slurry etc.

these all have one thing in common that makes them fall far short of hair spray on the glass the primary factor is they add height which will affect the first layer height. the glue stick would probably be the best out of these.

Other things include the finish add to things like paper and tapes to make then work better for their intended purpose blue tape has a waxing type of finish and depending on the manufacturer of it it can either be an issue or it may not be it depends. All of these will need to be removed and reapplied over time time the tape is the most difficult to reapply because you have to line up the edges pretty closely in order for it not to affect prints that span more than the width of the tape.

Hairspray as one downside and that is that some works well and some doesn't work at all but thankfully here in the US we have a brand called aquanet extra super hold and it works extremely well and just recently we come to believe it is because of two chemicals that work seperately or together they are

VA/Crotonates/Vinyl Neodecanoate Copolymer,
Acrylates Copolymer,

so outside of the US look for hairspray that contains either of them with focus on the first one and should probably be OK
the best part is that aquanet is cheap

theother benefitsbeside cheap is that it washes off with soapy water with no residue and add no height and can be ussed several time over and over and if you need more just spray on abit more very fast


BUT remember the First layer must be PUT DOWN not laid down in order for it to really work well and that pic shows how it looks after I PUT my filament DOWN each time that is the key to getting it to stick.

Feel free to direct any questions you may have I will try and answer them as well