M3D Printer

I recently got a 350$ 3D printer for my birthday. It is a Micro 3D printer, or an "M3D" printer.

After two weeks, I have not gotten one successful print.

Problems:
Doesn't stick to print bed properly - I took some advice from youtube videos and just put Elmers Purple School Glue on the print bed, works great

Shifting and stuff - something that is supposed to be straight is completely shifted and tilted.

Doesn't stick to raft - causes a big plasticky mess

Extrusion - Running PLA at 240 C, sometimes filament literally just wont't extrude

fragile - my halfway completed prints are flimsy as hell!

I callibrate all the time, callibrating bed location and drive system with their automatic program.

wat do.

EDIT: BTW I use internal loading of filament

Congrats on your purchase and welcome :)

Your issues are not uncommon for a beginner so lets go through them...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parkbobo

Doesn't stick to print bed properly - I took some advice from youtube videos and just put Elmers Purple School Glue on the print bed, works great

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I don't know anything about the M3D printer so I would have to ask whether or not it has a heated bed. If yes then it would behove you to invest in a glass sheet to use as build platform and coat it with hairspray. If not then you should cover the platform with blue painters tape.

NOTE: If using a glass sheet be sure to put a shim of equal thickness under z end stop.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parkbobo

Shifting and stuff - something that is supposed to be straight is completely shifted and tilted.

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The printer will only do as commanded by the program. Shifting and tilting prints are the result of not mastering platform adhesion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parkbobo

Doesn't stick to raft - causes a big plasticky mess

Extrusion - Running PLA at 240 C, sometimes filament literally just wont't extrude

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Woah!! PLA extrudes at approximately 200 C. You will ruin your PTFE tubes by running PLA that hot. Again, a good guide line for PLA: extruders at 200C, heated bed at 60C.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parkbobo

fragile - my halfway completed prints are flimsy as hell

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Master the above first. You will need to calibrate you extruder too but I don't really know much about M3D printers, it may be the same as other printers though.

Give us a bit more info about your setup i.e. slicer, filament type and brand, printer specs, object to be printed, etc...

Hey~! First of all, thanks for replying, after two weeks of failure, anything helps.

So if I were to cover my build platform in blue painters tape, would it make prints innaccurate due to leveling issues and the nozzle being too close to the bed for the tape. I don't know much about printers, as I am new, but those were some concerns.

So are you saying that if I get my print to fully stick to the bed, shifting would not occur? I am just looking to clarify.

So my program originally ran PLA at 215 C, and when I complained to support, they said to up it bit by bit. And by the way, I do not have a heated print bed.

My Filament- 1/2 Pound of the PLA plastic from the M3D website http://store.printm3d.com/#filaments_head_scroll

Printer Specs
Supports many different materials: ABS, PLA, nylon, professional, chameleon
50-350 micron layer resolution
15 micron X and Y positioning accuracy
Filament: standard 1.75mm. 1/2lb rolls fit within print bed and allow you to try a variety of materials and colors for less! Standard filament rolls also supported.
Print height: 116mm (4.6")
Base Print Area: 109mm x 113mm
Print Area Above 74mm: 91mm x 84mm
Removable Print Bed Size: 128x128mm
Printer Dimensions: It's a cube, 7.3 in (185 mm) per side.
Printer weight: 1kg (2.2 lbs)
Package weight: 2kg - 2.7kg (4.4 lbs - 6 lbs)
USB Compatible
(Copy and pasted from their website)

The object that I experienced skipping with was the Body1.stl from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:557812/#files
I also experienced messy printing with Back_Hand_Right_Hand.stl from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:892654/#files

And I am going to be 100% honest I don't know what a slicer is.

EDIT: Alright so recently I just tried to print a test border at 210 C and it only printed 1 side, i think because of how cold it is

by the way would you know a good resource to learn about 3D printers? Most of the things you mentioned (PTFE tubes) are not familiar to me

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parkbobo

So if I were to cover my build platform in blue painters tape, would it make prints innaccurate due to leveling issues and the nozzle being too close to the bed for the tape. I don't know much about printers, as I am new, but those were some concerns.

So are you saying that if I get my print to fully stick to the bed, shifting would not occur? I am just looking to clarify.

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Your bed doesn't appear to be heated so yes, you must cover it in blue painters tape. Then you will need to re-level the bed to ensure the correct distance between the tape and the nozzle.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parkbobo

So my program originally ran PLA at 215 C, and when I complained to support, they said to up it bit by bit. And by the way, My Filament- 1/2 Pound of the PLA plastic from the M3D website

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You can google this. The typical PLA temp is between 190C to 210C.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parkbobo

The object that I experienced skipping with was the Body1.stl from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:557812/#files
I also experienced messy printing with Back_Hand_Right_Hand.stl from

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That's a very ambitious print. Start with something simpler and get to learn your printer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parkbobo

And I am going to be 100% honest I don't know what a slicer is.

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A slicer is the software that slices the model and creates the gcode eg: Simplify 3D, Makerware, Slic3r, Kisslicer, Cura, etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parkbobo

Alright so recently I just tried to print a test border at 210 C and it only printed 1 side, i think because of how cold it is

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Sounds more like bad levelling to me. Take your time and start simple.

The internet is a treasure trove of information. Google google google!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parkbobo

by the way would you know a good resource to learn about 3D printers? Most of the things you mentioned (PTFE tubes) are not familiar to me

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PTFE tube are thermal barriers used in certain nozzle types. All metal hotends are the other kind. Don't know what you have.

Hey man! So after you posted I have been working slowly bit by bit on my printer, and here is what I return with

Alright, so after some tests and stuff, THE LOWEST temperature I could even extrude at was 230 C. I went up from 200 by 5 degree increments. I am just wondering if it is safe to run at this temperature.

EDIT: I have found another error. So recently I started loading filament externally instead of internally, to make sure the device would print correctly. In the middle of a GREAT print, no errors, no nothing. It just stops, and freezes. I got these two errors that repeated in my "Spooler Log"
There was an exception writing to the port: A device attached to the system is not functioning
There was an exception writing to the port: The semaphored timeout period has ended

I had to execute a power cycle by disconnecting the power cable. Even before that I executed an Emergency Stop code and it didn't do anything. I'm worried that I might have broke something running at high temperatures like you said. Keep in mind, I have been printing for like 3 days on 240 C on semi big prints.
Also, after restarting I can still print, however I am not sure if the error will occur again

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sebastian Finke

Your bed doesn't appear to be heated so yes, you must cover it in blue painters tape.

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Tape shouldn't be needed. The printbed on the M3D comes stock with Buildtak on it.

is the m3d auto calibration ?
And can you adjust it ?

If not you might need blue tape to tighten your calibration manually.

Got some build-tak - not tried it yet :-)

This issue sounds like the ceramic heating element is not making good contact with the hot end of the extruder shaft. As a result the hot end is actually colder than is being reported. It has either slid up the shaft or is loose. On the m3d it is only held in place by a silicone cover. I'd recommend opening up the extruder and using a small piece of aluminum foil to wrap the end of the hot end and provide a more snug fit for the heating element.
This problem is not uncommon on the m3d.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by err404

This issue sounds like the ceramic heating element is not making good contact with the hot end of the extruder shaft. As a result the hot end is actually colder than is being reported. It has either slid up the shaft or is loose. On the m3d it is only held in place by a silicone cover. I'd recommend opening up the extruder and using a small piece of aluminum foil to wrap the end of the hot end and provide a more snug fit for the heating element.
This problem is not uncommon on the m3d.

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+1 for the alum foil mod. Great tip.

I have just started using my m3D and had some of the same problems. Different colors seem to work differently. Black onyx seemed to work best for me but I had been printing on lowest res just for trial prints. Some prints came unstuck and after I used some glue craft stick it worked well. I also found out I needed to be sure the head was heated properly before I start and the filament needs to be coming out of the nozzle before starting a run. I wanted to see how well it would do on something extremely complex (took 10 hours to print a lacy bracelet) That print had some very fragile areas that broke when I tried cleaning it up but I believe I can use pieces for some jewelry. The best print I have gotten so far was a solid miniature chair. I tried some more delicate chairs at 1/2 size (1:48" scale) and they are extremely fragile Thinking I might be able to strengthen them using CA glue. Will experiment with that. I have been feeding the spools externally and thinking of printing a spool holder. The inexpensive machine has limitations which I can live with because I want to print very small items and obviously there will be a lot of experimentation, trial and error. Keeping it simple is the best advice until you learn with it (I didn't quite take that myself) but I am having fun with it and so far am pretty happy with it. Good luck, be persistent. I have only printed using the program that sets the temperature automatically for each filament spool. As long as it feeds well before I start it seems to work okay.