New to 3d printing and having problems

For christmas I received a Flashforge creator pro and I cannot seem to get a decent print out of it. I've tried tweaking the temperature, the speeds, the feed diameter, the feed stock multiplier and even tried moving the model on the build plate. Before anyone asks, yes I levelled the build plate and levelled it again and again lol. I've tried with and without a raft and sticking only seems to be an issue without a raft. The best looking model I've managed was at a temperature of 180 with a feed stock multiplier of 1.3, however this still came out wrong. It was warped on one corner and looked and felt like there wasn't enough plastic. It also clicked the whole time doing it at that temperature.


Here's a picture of the average model I'm getting, the left picture is the front and the right picture is the back.

http://3dprintboard.com/attachment.p...tid=4366&stc=1


Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction of how to fix this? :)

180 is too low !

you using pla or abs. ?
I'm assumig pla as abs probably won't extrude that low.

But even for pla the lowest I've ever printed is 195. Most filaments seem to work best at 200-220

Also what software are you using ?
I'd recommend makerware 2.4 - download links in a thread on the forum.
Easy to use and quite effective.

And what plate covering are you using ?

I didn't have any real success until I switched from kapton to blue tape.
And only really got exactly what i wanted when I switched from abs to pla.

I've never messed with any of the feed settings. Just temp, resolution, infill, number of layers etc.
No matter what software I use (either simplify3d or makerware) I've always found the default settings for the complex stuff to work fine.
I'd recommend not touching any of the weird feed rate settings untill you've got the machine printing quite well anyway.

Yes this is PLA and I only tried printing at 180 after trying various temps up to 230.


The software i'm using is Makerbot 3.4.1.48 and I'm printing from the SD card. I originally tried to use Replicatorg printing over USB but makerbot has that nice print preview and a nicer raft :)


I've got blue tape covering the kapton.


I only started tweaking the feed settings as none of the standard settings was giving me any joy.

What is your heatbed temperature?

I've tried setting the heat bed to 50 and 60.

Whats your layer height and speed?...looks like either too fast and too cool. I would try upgrading Makerbot Desktop and also printing directly from usb. As far as speeds go, I typically use standard which is .2 layer height and a speed of 45mm/s and 60mm/s and that turns out great prints. If you are using .3 layer heights, try a speed of 60mm/s and 75mm/s. Also the clicking you hear is that your filament isn't hot enough. Just try increasing you extruder temp by 5 degree increments until you have it dialed in perfect. It toke about 2 weeks to figure what was perfect for my Pro.

Do you have any other filament to try out? And nice, a FF creator pro for Christmas, top's any present I ever got :P

I have just started using PLA but I have not had any problems with it sticking to my Kapton tape so far at 60. Also what speed's, I noticed just mentioned various speed's, how low did you try? Also, you should give another slicer a try, there are a few out there that are all good in their own way's, almost all for free. Also I hear it is always best to print from the SD. I had a few problems myself printing from USB, but that mainly could be because it was a crappy laptop that it was running off of.

The layer height is 0.2. I've tried various speeds ranging from 40 up to 80 with the travel set to 60 to 100.

I know the clicking is because it wasn't hot enough but I let it run just to see what would come out.

The only filament I have is what I got with it. White ABS and blue PLA. I tried the ABS first but couldn't get a decent print. So I switched to PLA as I thought that's meant to be easier to print.

I've tried ReplicatorG and Makerbot. I've downloaded Slic3r and Cura but they seemed a little more complex to initially set up. I would probably try to get them working if I could print something lol.

I have it connected to a brand new iMac so I wouldn't have thought the USB connection would be too slow or noisy but switched to printing from the SD card both because I have a lot of things open all the time (Photoshop, Illustrator, Modo, Steam, Safari, Firefox, Unity to name a few) and because Makerbot doesn't seem to let you print over USB.

It is a rather nice present, if I could only get it working lol :)

To me, it doesn't look to be a slicer issue, more of a printer issue. So if your using a Flashforge filament, I would try these settings- .2 layer height, 10% infill, 200 extruder temp, 50 bed temp, 45mm/s and 60mm/s speeds. Do that on both spools and see if that helps some. And also, what do you mean that Makerbot doesn't let you print over USB?

I was thinking it might be a printer issue or just the filament as I've looked through many websites and forums to find a solution.


I'm sure I've tried printing with settings similar to those but just in case I haven't, I'll try them later on when I get a chance.


I downloaded the latest Makerbot software and set the device to Replicator Dual. It connects but the button to print is greyed out, I did download Makerware 2.4 but that didn't seem to want to load. I'm using OS X Yosemite so I'm guessing Makerware 2.4 isn't compatible.


The printer came installed with sailfish 7.7 I don't know if that's relevant but every bit of information helps.

i had an absolute ballache the first few weeks nothing i printed would come out right, till i got onto this forum and with the help of Geoff and curious aardvark i now have a working (well still a few kinks i need to iron out) machine, so much so i have had a work collegue offer to pay me to custom make her wedding cake stands (oreo cookies) so yeah....

as for settings, currently using pla

extruder temps are both 195
HPB is 60
speeds are 40 / 70

0.2 layer thickness
10% infill

bed is covered with fresh kapton, and wiped with pure acetone, no issues with sticking or removing now, at first removing was hard as in needed a chisle to remove prints were on there that good,

currently printing out a test oreo, to see how it looks

I've definitely tried those settings which makes me think it is the printer or filament.


Yeah this looked like a good forum to join with a lot of helpful and knowledgeable people :) I was hoping someone would just say "Yes that's a nicknack that needs tweaking in the printer". Which reminds me, I'm printing with the lid off and the door open, it's also winter in England and I'm not a fan of the heat.


Sticking to the plate doesn't seem to be a problem.


Think I need a biscuit now lol.

when you use the latest software, instead of saying "replicator dual", it should say something like "eeprom". This means that the computer sees the printer. If not then something is up with your mac not seeing the printer. Thats why you can't print over usb.

error77 im also in the uk, so tell me about cold, supposed to snow where i am tomorrow, how fun thats gonna be i a brand new car

devildog125


Well that's strange, I've just started Makerbot and switched the printer on and Makerbot tells me it's connected to FF Creator Pro with a little USB icon next to it and I can print via USB now. I think it must be the order you turn them on as I've always had the printer on first.


I've just tried with the settings you suggested and no joy, it's still melty at the back. When you say both spools did you mean the same filament in each extruder or both the ABS and PLA?


Ghosty I'm hoping for snow but I have a feeling it's just going to be rain as usual lol. Stay safe if it does snow :)

Looking your picture again, it looks like you are getting some over extrusion and thats why it's coming out to a glob especially on the sides. I would try lowing your feed stock multiplier to something like .93 to .97 and see if that works. It should be .93 for PLA and ABS .85....i would make sure your printer is calibrated as well.

the blue filament I got with my printer was utter shite and also abs. It blocked the printhead quite quickly. And even after changing nozzles I still haven't got the right extruder working again properly.
I'd recommend buying some 10 metre samples of different pla's just to find one that works properly.

Can't say more expensive will be better. I've got some £13 white pla and some £18 white pla. Apart from printing at different temps, there's bugger else all to choose between them.

I would recommend polymakr filaments as the best I've used. And they look to be usa based as well. Which is bloody annoying for me :-)

I've fiddled about with the feed stock multiplier and set it to both extremes of 0.5 and 1.3 to see what that would do, it didn't seem to help much.


I think I'm going to have to get some new filament and see if that works. Definitely don't want to mess my printhead up trying to get bad filament working.


Thank you all for your help, I'll let you know how it goes when I get some new filament :)

I'm visiting Dublin in a couple of months, Aardvark. Want me to bring you a box of Polymakr? :)

I like the Hatchbox filaments quite a bit --I haven't had many clogs with those, and I suspect that now that I'm following the "load only" technique it'll be even less frequent.