My buddy is having trouble with his printrbot simple (2014). All of his prints seem to be curling up a lot. He is using all the recomended tape on the aluminum preint bet but it is still curling. Any suggestions?
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My buddy is having trouble with his printrbot simple (2014). All of his prints seem to be curling up a lot. He is using all the recomended tape on the aluminum preint bet but it is still curling. Any suggestions?
I'm assuming he is using PLA rather than ABS. Two things that help with PLA:
1. Make sure to clean the bed with acetone or ethanol before applying the tape. After applying the tape, clean the tape rigorously with acetone or ethanol. This will make sure that any oil from your hands, etc., is removed.
2. Make sure that your bed is level to your nozzle and that your starting nozzle height is correct. You should barely be able to get a piece of paper between your nozzle and bed when your z-axis is homed.
I find that I have trouble getting the part off the tape when I've done this correctly.
Cheers,
KDog
I've noticed that this warping could also be related to the temperature of the extruder. try setting it 5 to 10 degrees higher.
Actually... I've had the opposite issue. I like to run a little bit hot because things fuse better, especially with cheap filament. But if the curling gets too bad, I knock 5 or 10 C off of the temperature. I guess it could go either way???Quote:
Originally Posted by Black Rabbit
Has your buddy got a heated bed?Quote:
Originally Posted by QuitNoMore
If so, is he using a glass build plate?
If so, he should clean the glass and wipe it with a good coat of glue stick that you can buy cheap at the stationary store (paper glue stick)
Then, don''t laugh, this really works a treat and I haven't told anyone before about this. Get some sugar and a little water. Heat it in a micro wave so that it mixes well and forms a oil like consistency when cooled. Apply a little to the glue surface with your fingers, rubbing it evenly all over the surface.
I would suggest that you do a few of these at the same time if you have a big print job on.
Now put the glass on your heated bed and set the temp to about 70C. The sugar will become a nice smooth surface and the stickiness will be gone.
Make your print and it will stick like s*** to a blanket. After the print, take the glass plate off the machine and put on one side to cool. Put your next glass plate on the machine and continue printing.
After a few minutes the glass will have cooled down, you may even hear a cracking sound (like breaking glass) The part will now be released by itself, you wont have to pry it off with a knife or anything, it will be completely loose and a beautiful clean surface underneath. Warning, don't be impatient and try and remove while still hot, you may damage the surface of the sugar coating and will have to wash it off (easy) and do it again. Wait and let it cool down and you can get many prints off the same surface. Sometimes a very light spray of water (very little) may be needed to repair the surface, secret is to leave as long as possible for the plate to cool.
I use standard window glass for all my machines, and if you have to buy it the price is pretty cheap. I am actually given mine by the local glass man. Clean the edges of the glass using a sanding disc or belt, don't hold the glass in one spot too long or it will get hot in that location and could crack. Just a quick run around the edges and it makes the glass nice and safe to handle. Dirt cheap and ready to do continual printing.
As I have said, I have never told anyone of my little secret before, so please someone give it a try and lets all enjoy some good prints.
I know this thread has been defunct for a while, but I’ve struggled with this early on and want to add my thoughts here…
Everything mentioned above is good advice - but I've had similar issues with curling/lifting off of my prints, especially at the corners. What I've seen is the more surface area a print's first layer has, the more likely one or more corners will lift. A great way I've found to mitigate this involves adding some brim-type structures to the model before printing. I call them "Mickey Mouse Ears" (MME’s), and they work extremely well at keeping the base layer attached to the bed. The downside to this fix is that you'll have to use some kind of design software to open the .stl or model and add these structures. I have found that I can make nice flat/non-curled prints without using a heated bed, glass plate or having to use acetone/gluesticks/hairspray...and I don't have to futz around with extruder temps. BTW, I am doing all this on my [highly-Borgified] Printrbot Simple, although I have a Makerfarm 12" i3v coming any day now. I print everything at 200 C and it has worked very well for me :)
I use PTC Creo2 for most of my modeling needs, especially to create parts/ assemblies and add custom support structures to my downloaded [SciFi] models to make them print properly. I use this software in my profession and have my own copy of it at home so it works well for my situation. I think there are some freeware/inexpensive design software packages that might be helpful for doing this, perhaps others on this forum can supply info on what works for them.
Also some specifics: my Simple has the extended aluminum bed with painter’s tape (no other surface prep). I have only been printing in PLA as I don’t have a heated bed (looking forward to the i3v so I can try other materials!). I make the MME’s pretty thin, just the first two layers and this seems to work very well. I usually print at 200 microns so when I model the MME’s I make them .4mm thick in Creo2, that way I get the two-layer result I want. The only other downside is that it takes a little added effort to remove them, but since they are rather thin I just use an X-acto knife. To me the slight additional work is well worth having perfectly flat parts!
If you don't want to/can't work with a software design tool then adding a brim might be the next best thing, in addition to all the great ideas shared above.
Just wanted to share what has worked well for me – hope this helps anyone who might be having similar issues with parts warping. I've included a couple pics below showing the "Mickey Mouse Ears" that I added to a rather complicated part. It came out perfectly flat and the MME's were pretty easy to remove.
Attachment 3920Attachment 3921