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Running out of hair to pull out!

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by technotrope, Sep 20, 2013.

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  1. technotrope

    technotrope New Member

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    I received my Robo3D on Monday, and have been trying to get it to print consistently all week. Here's the result:

    Robo3D.jpg In trial #1, I tried plotting the Companion Cube. As you can see, it was pretty much an unrecognizable, delaminated blob.

    In trial #2, I went back and recalibrated everything, based upon the information I harvested from this forum. Much, much better! ...until it ran out of the filament shipped with the printer.

    In trial #3, I loaded up the first roll of filament. partway through printing, the little corners of the cube came loose from the blue tape, and I ended up with a total mess. This has been true of trials, 4 through 50. I've adjusted the height, wiped down the blue tape with rubbing alcohol, etc., etc., and am making NO progress.

    Here's my last trial (#51). Looked pretty good, until one of the corners again popped loose. Aaarrgh!
    Robo3D02.jpg
    What can I try next? Thanks, in advance, for your help and suggestions.
     
  2. Coby Robo 3D

    Coby Robo 3D Administrator
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    technotrope,

    Is this PLA or ABS? What temp are you printing at?

    We use the plain blue painters tape and rub it down with acetone and it works great. Maybe try some different painters tape.

    It almost looks like you are running the hotend too hot.
     
  3. Michael DiFilippo

    Michael DiFilippo Active Member

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    You don't look level, the last picture notice on the left how it looks like a slightly raised band of filament for the outside perimeter, this is exactly how it should look. On the right though it looks flatter. Try raising JUST the right side a bit by turning the lead screw slowly while holding the left lead screw stationary. A good trick is to turn on the outside perimeter and watch for it, if the outside perimeter looks correct chances are your print will be good to go. It is how once you get experienced you will quickly make changes necessary for perfect prints.

    It can be really frustrating to get the z height right at first but it is really important, just keep trying and go small increments at a time.
     
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  4. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    Mike is right, your first biggest issue is the bed levelness. With this in mind there are TWO things that need to be checked
    One is the x axis moving in a level plane this is the adjustment Mike is taking about and can be done fairly easily with the business card and adjusting the height of the z axis until the business card it fits SNUGGLY between the bed and the nozzle on BOTH extremes of the x axis

    IN ADDITION though the bed must also be level or this first adjustment becomes moot.
    So it comes to doing both and rechecking both until all are correct. This is usually a slower process but take your time and you should be much better off

    First you need a level indicator of sorts I use an analog dial indicator so I can see the needle move as the bed goes benenath it and I can see high or low spots.

    Next you need to be doing this on a surface that does not have much flex like glass or the plexi if you only PLA version
    printing directly on the printbed is unreliable as it has way too much flex in it regular glass can be used but can and has for me cracked at times (twice in about 3 months so I keep extra around) I secure mine down on all for side and it should compensate greatly for the PCB variations.

    Once you have a dial indicator you need to check all four corners of the bed and make sure they are level at this point it is almost a sure bet they are not.

    Then make sure you x axis is moving in a level plane now you need to check the four corners when you look at the x axis levelness.
    This will give you levelness right to left (along x) and front to back(along y)

    Once this is done you can then set the bed height which it looks like you go pretty close as the home corner of your skirt looks pretty good but as Mike said it is the right side that looks thin it should all look the same height as the front right corner does.

    When this is doen then I know you will see your prints turning out better and better as other things like the nozzle temp and other things are fine tuned.

    Important try and give as much detail as possible as the the specifics of each print attempt
    temps, material, bed temp if used, and what you are printing on. You did most of it in this post including pics which are a great help in figuring things out byt the material type was missing.

    Mike is also very correct in that you use the skirt lines to validate the z height from the bed if it does not look good chances are the rest of the print will have issues as well.
    IF it is bad it is best to stop the print, readjust things, and restart the print, you will save a lot of wasted filament by following that rule.

    Some things can be compensated for when the bed height is too low (as yours was in the upper right part of the skirt) by subsequent layers but it is always best to start with a good correctly printed first layer
     
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  5. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    PLA - rarely lifts if the first few layers goes down correctly, should not be used with a heated bed. Easier to get first successful prints.

    ABS - nototriously finicky when it comes to lifting it can lift even if the first dozen layers go down perfectly. It is a balance between the extrusin(nozzle) temp , the bed temp, and the air temp(sometimes a heated chamber is needed)
     
  6. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    Another thing you can try if you are printing on glass is to not use the tape at all and use aquanet hairspray as I have been doing for a long time now spray it on the glass let it dry about a minute and you are all set and it cleans off easily in water when you want to or need to clean it.

    This is highly recommended by many people the only thing I use the blue tape for now is to tape down my glass
     
  7. technotrope

    technotrope New Member

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    WooHoo! After:

    1. Taking my printer home from the office (so I could actually work on it in something other than 30-second bursts),
    2. Switching out the blue tape for a different brand (The Scotch brand was too slick, apparently),
    3. Spending about an hour adjusting the bed to be level (I only verified this at either side; I see from the post above that I should do it at all four corners), and...
    4. Adjusting the Z-direction cut-off switch screw so I could hear it click at exactly the correct height (I had to take the cover off to tighten the switch support because it kept twisting out from under the cut-off screw),

    I got my first successful print! This is PLA, printed at 190 deg/180 deg. I rubbed the blue tape down with Windex, based upon another post. This print took 2:15.

    The only problem I had was that the pipe bowl snapped off as I was cleaning up the model. What's the best glue to attach PLA to PLA?

    Thanks to EVERYBODY for your helpful suggestions!! Robo3DSuccess.jpg
     
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  8. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    Congrats on the print it pretty good I would try regular super glue though I haven't tried it myself acetone works for ABS but not too well for PLA so stay away from that.
     
  9. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    Technotrope. best glue for PLA = Plastruct Plastic weld.
    nice print by the way!
     
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