Will not Stick!

I think I'm almost ready to give up and admit defeat. For two days I have now been trying to print something, anything and it simply will not do it.

The PLA refuses to stick to the bed at all.

I have tried using temps from 190C in 5C increments up to 230C.

Cannot seem to find a sweet spot and cant really tell the difference between 190 and 230.

I have tried hairspray which made absolutely zero difference.

I have tried levelling the bed so many bloody times now I've lost count. I have tried a business card, a piece of paper and having the head sit almost directly on the bed itself.

Again, absolutely zero difference in getting the stuff to stick.

I have tried two different types of PLA the Robo3D stuff and PrintME3D which I got of ebay. both PLA's exhibit exactly the same problem.

What seems to happen nearly every time I try is that the PLA does not extrude well at all until its been running for about 10-15 cm, then I start to get a consistent amount coming through. The only problem then is that because the PLA will not stick to the bed at all it then comes back off the glass and gets caught on the print head and I end up with a mess of PLA around the hot end which I then have to clean off. The print head also seems to catch the PLA if it does decide to stick for a bit which then of course knocks it all out of alignment. I have removed the excess yellow tape around the printhead but this has been little difference.

Of course, then I try to relevel the print head which nearly half the time does not work because the z end stop button is seriously intermittent in actually working. So I have to reseat the nuts on the arm because they have come loose and relevel the bed manually and then try to set up the z end stop again.

I usually have to do this about three times before it decides to work.

and then I'm back to PLA not sticking at all.

This is very frustrating and I am beginning to believe I might have a faulty printer as the makerbot I have been using does not do this at all and the PLA just sticks. In fact with the makerbot it sticks too well and I have to use a very sharp knife to get the object off the bed when finished.

 

For PLA, the usual yellow/beige painters tape worked best. Hairspray didn't work for me either. Give it a try...

 

I'll give it a go, I've tried everything else I can think of lol. heating the bed to 60 initially worked but it screwed up on the third layer.

When I showed a buddy of mine he said that increasing the extruding rate a bit might help ,do you guys know how I can do that?

 

Had a quick look for painters tape, is this the stuff I'm after?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Frog-Tape...ial_Paint_Varnish_MJ&var=&hash=item232fc00064

 

I've already tried adjusting the Z height many, many times. At the moment it is set to just about being able to slide a piece of paper between the hot end and the bed. The PLA still still gets caught on the hot end at any temp between 190 and 230 (well 5c increments) and is a royal pain to clean off.

 

Agreed, maybe tesseract has a different bed. I read that there are at least 2 versions. I think I have the latest, just a single glass with heating coil taped to it. Hairspray doesn't work for me regardless of the z axis. I had itso close that you could look through, maybe .05 mm and it won't stick.
Tries 3 different makes of hairypray, all with the same result.

Gesendet von meinem Nexus 5 mit Tapatalk

 

Something you can try that sort of works for me is to go into slicer>printer settings>then add a negative offset. Right now I keep mine between -.5 and -1.0. This way you can get closer to the print bed without risking crashing the head into the bed and having to realign the Z threaded rods.

 

The reason I started using an offset is because there is too much play in the limit switch. Sometimes, when going home, the Z rods would just keep going because the extruder crashed into the bed.

 

That generally happens because they installed the z end stop switch backwards so you get less mechanical advantage to activate the switch. Turning that around should fix that issue and get more consistent stops without throwing the nuts.

For me, hairspray on the boro glass works great. Though Jeff helped me a lot initially to ensure I knew what to look for on the first layer.

@Alex: That painters tape will work but it's probably a bit expensive. Most of us have the 3M ScotchBlue, but a lot depends on what's available near you brand http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EJMS4M/ref=oh_details_o04_s02_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Though I still think you're probably too high. I stopped using the paper/business card approach and just went with eyeballing it. When I level I lower the nozzle tip until it touches the bed, then I slowly raise it back up until I can see under the tip. If you wagon wheel (no material inside, tracks outside) then you're too low. If your material is sticking to your nozzle then you're too high. The balance is close to the wagon wheel but enough that your nozzle isn't carrying excess material into corners, etc

I've been having good luck with 210 on the first layer, and 195-200 for the remainder.

 

I was also going to add that your Z cutout switch may be reversed.

Does your switch look like this? Where the bolt that intersects the cutout switch is near the fulcrum of the switch?



If so, then you have a reversed Z cutout switch. I had all kinds of problems with the Z axis continuing until the hotend hit the bed thus throwing the Z axis bolts. After reversing this switch, it almost never happens. I'd still like to move mine so it hits closer to the end of the level giving the most mechanical advantage but that would require rethreading the screws. For now reversing the switch put the bolt about halfway between the fulcrum and end of the lever.