Issue with Creator Max

Hello everyone. I just got a FlashForge Creator Max. I know it's not a very good beginner printer, but I wanted something that I did not have to upgrade as I improve. Yesterday, I printed a spool holder for the Creator Max, and it worked great, everything went well. Today though, it starts stringing very badly on the inside, and it stops making the honeycomb/hexagon pattern that holds the part together on the inside. The more times I try again and print, the less it prints before it starts stringing on the inside. The only thing I did different between yesterday and today is that I used a raft. I stopped using a raft as it was nearly impossible to take of the model, and once I took off the model, the part of the raft where it is attached to the model itself, was attached so tightly I was unable to get it off. I am using PLA, with a 210C (celsius) temp for the extruder, and and 60C bed temperature. They are the exact same settings as yesterday, but instead i'm not using a raft, and it is much easier to take of the model and the model looks much better on the underside. I have attached three pictures below, from biggest to smallest. The biggest one was the second one (after the successful one) and the second smaller one was the third print and the last picture with the smallest print was the last print. Thanks for your help.

okay - couple of issues.
You need to calibrate the print bed. manually. A sheet of 90gsm paper works best. Getting the printbed physically level is the single most important thing you can do.
Unfortunately flashprint doesn't give you a setting to adjust the z-height (the z dimensional adjustment is a different thing altogether). So get good at calibrating :-)

Secondly the retraction settings are slightly off and you are printing a bit too hot.
It's a direct drive extruder.
so set your retraction - initially - to 2mm length and 70mm/s retraction speed.
Then adjust from there.
And bear in mind that different colours and different brands will need different printing temps and retraction settings.
I find that white, blue and red tend to work well with the same settings and black needs to be printed at a slightly lower temperature.

Bed temp - go for 65c.
Just seems to be the sweet spot for all pla.
200c is the base print temp. Colour, layer height and speed - depending, you can adjust it. But 210 is up there at maximum speed and maximum layer thickness prints.

Also infill wise - and this is my personal preference - go for triangular. It's stronger then honeycomb/hexagonal, uses less plastic and prints faster.

One thing you can do is make the first layer as thick as possible. say 0.35mm. That way it acts in the same way that a raft does, but doesn't use more plastic or take any longer.

Also print the first layer SLOWLY. 10-15mm/s is as fast as I like to do a first layer.
If you take time on the first layer you can print the rest of the model faster.
A good print is 70% down to the first layer going down flat and staying flat.

Basically what you have is a creator pro with a larger print volume. So pretty much all creatorpro/replicator tips and advice will apply.


As far as it not being a good beginner printer - yeah it is :-)
My first printer was a flashforge creator - replicator clone.
Getting a good print surface for the bed was the singl;e most important thing I EVER did. And in my case I fitted a sheet of 'printbite'. These days there are a lot more options. I still absolutely endorse Printbite. It's as close to a perfect p[lug'n'play print surface as you can get.

But these days I'd maybe start with a cheap sheet of self adhesive PEI.
You ca get these from china with 3m adhesive for about £5.

Alternative try magigoo or Dimafix - though i'm not sure that's still going.
These are adhesives that simply wipe onto ta hot bed and give very similiar results to Printbite and PEI.

I tend to use different surfaces on the printers that aren't used every day.
My every day workhorses Always have actual Printbite.

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