Rubber printing problems

[rene1981]

Hello,

I really like to printing with rubber, but I've got a problem with it:
It don't stick on my printbed...

I tried already 2 printers:
Witbox (with a glassplate)
Up! plus 2 (I don't know what the print bed is)

I also tried blue tape and masking tape. But that don't helped at all. The rubber is still getting lose from the printbed.

Printtemp: 220.

Does anyone have a solution for it?

Thanks!

Best, René

[Geoff]

Hello,

I really like to printing with rubber, but I've got a problem with it:
It don't stick on my printbed...

I tried already 2 printers:
Witbox (with a glassplate)
Up! plus 2 (I don't know what the print bed is)

I also tried blue tape and masking tape. But that don't helped at all. The rubber is still getting lose from the printbed.

Printtemp: 220.

Does anyone have a solution for it?

Thanks!

Best, René

How hot is your heatbed? I find I need to heat mine to around 65c to get the flex filament to stick well (I use blue tape for that)

[rene1981]

Hello,

on my Up: around 30 or 40 I think. I don't know because I don't see the temp there exactly.
On my Witbox: I don't have a heated bed there. The software and printer don't allow a heated bed.

I can try the Up with the ABS mode (260 and a heated bed of 100), but I am not sure if that will be okay for my printer...

Best, René

[GOC]

*Note: The flexible material I use is 'Flex EcoPLA' which is actually a TPC material known as 'Flex TPC'. The printer I use is an Orion Delta from SeeMeCNC. Take note of this when referencing my speed & temp obesevations.


- I understand the issues flexible filament can have with printing & sticking to the print-bed. I too went through many trial and error prints to finally get some tuned settings and designs. There are some key factors to take into consideration for getting good results from this material type.


1) Slow your speeds way down - Some forums I've read say around 10mm/s is ideal, but I run my configs a bit different.
> Travel Speed - 100mm/s (This is to ensure the strands get a clean break)
> Print Speed - 16mm/s
> Outer Perimeter - 10mm/s
> Inner Perimeter - 10mm/s
> Infill Speed - 25mm/s
> Extruder Temp - 214C
> Bed Temp - 62C-70C (62C for first 15 layers, 70C for the rest)

2) A clean and tacky surface - Many forum posts and people have been recommending glass as a print surface, I actually have had better results using painters tape and an Elmer's glue stick.
> My print bed technique:
+ a)Apply painters tape (ensuring not to touch with fingers where part will be; ANY oils will disrupt the adhesion quality)
+ b)Firm application - Be sure to use a putty knife or somthing similar to firmly apply the tape the bed.
+ c)Apply a light coat of Elmer's glue stick
+ d)Pre-bake the glue for 3min @ 60C before starting a print (this gets the glue nice and tacky)

3) Air temperature managment - A critical component for this material is ensuring there are no dramatic air temperature changes & that the air surrounding the part is fairly warm.
> Create an enclosure of some sort - To alleviate a lot of the lifting/curling issues I was having I enclosed my printer to keep the air temperature warm and constant.
> Keep filament cool - I found that I have no more feeder jams since I've taken my filament out of my enclosure. The cooler filament tends to have more rigidity which prevents it from scrunching up in the extruder gears.


If you are really looking to get good print results I wrote an article detailing some tips and tricks on this:
http://goc3d.blogspot.com/2014/11/3d...-accuracy.html