Creator Pro first 3D printer some questions

[helste]

Hi, yesterday I received my first 3D printer. I am totally new to 3D printing, but I already watched tons of videos on youtube and red many articles.
After setting the printer up I did some prints and I am really happy with what came out.
Today I tried a flat, but larger surface object and found out, that the left side of the printbed is less sticky than the right. So on the far left, it did not stick to the bed.
With the printer I got a glass bed and an adhesive spray as free addon. So I want to try out the glass bed, but wonder, if I should remove the blue print tak first or should just put the glass on top of it?

The next question is about the firmware. I found out, that there is sailfish v7.7 installed on the printer. Should I go with that or change to anything different?

I used flashprint to slice the objects so far, but now I just installed ReplicatorG to play around with it.
Seems that I can send files to the printer via the USB cable when I use ReplicatorG. Did not find that in the flashprint software.
So I will play aroud with that.

My last question at the moment is, if I should do any maintenance work to the printer right from the beginning as lubrication or something like that.
Did not find anything in the manual so far, but have to confess, that I did not read it in depth so far.

[curious aardvark]

well first thing - throw rep-g away. it's horrible :-)
I recommend simplify3d. But if you get a gcode convertor then slic3r and cura are also both very good.
You can probably also use makerware desktop.

It does raise a question - do the new flashforge models still use mightyboards and need the convertor ?
I wasn't aware that flashprint used a convertor - so you might be able to just use slic3r and cura without any hassle.
If so, set pick: ;replicator dual' as your machine.

The glass can go on top of the tape, no problem.
the most likely reason it's not sticking on the left side is that the bed is not level.
calibrating/levelling your printbed is probably the single most important aspect in getting reliable prints.

If you have three levelling knobs - you have my sympathy. I've found that levelling with 3 knobs is trial and error and guesswork at best.
If you have 4 - it's a doddle, just follow the built in instructions from the machines control panel.

firmware is absolutely fine - my advice: never change firmware on a machine that works :-)

maintenance, well people have varying opinions.
I use a little lithium grease on kitchen paper and rub the steel rods and z-screw every month or so. Keeps them clean and it always sounds better afterwards. other people recommend using gun oil, others nothing.
And unless it goes wrong - that's pretty much it. My creator x has been running flawlessly for 2 1/2 years on just that regime.
As it's a wooden box, maybe twice a year I'll go round and tighten up the hex bolts holding it all together.
never done anything else, don't envision ever needing to do anything else.

We're well over 1000 hours of printing and with the addition of printbite she seems to just get better every day :-)

[Sebastian Finke]

Bed adhesion: you don't give much info in terms of material, size,layer height, print speed, etc. I assume you are levelling correctly? I also you are printing with PLA since you are using blue tape? Personally I use sugarcwater on glass for PLA. But give us more to work with.

Sailfish 7.7 is fine. I'm running 7.6 and don't intend upgrading.

I have been using Flashprint exclusively for the last two weeks or so and am very happy with it. Don't bother with RepG. Keep it to do things like firmware upgrades and finetuning settings on the printer. There are much better slicers out there. Also don't print using USB. It is not a failsafe method. Stick with SD cards.

As far as maintenance goes, no. Just keep it clean i.e. dustfree and check every now and then that all is tight and in good shape. The X belt tends to come loose so keep an eye on that. I replaced the bracket that holds the X belt with an aluminium one. I also replaced the Y stepper motor bracket with an aluminium one. Every now and I puts some silicon based lubricant on the rods but that more and an anticorrosive measure.

[Sebastian Finke]

Hey CA... You have an X? With a wooden frame? Thought the X was the Creater (wooden) but with metal frame. Sure you don't have a Creator Dual?

[curious aardvark]

no idea. I thought is was a wooden creator x.
could just be the creator - either way, she's my all time favourite gadget - ever :-)

Just downloading the latest flashprint - so looks like they've added mightyboard support to it then. Excellent - more slicers are always a good thing.

What's it like for dual extruder prints ?

And as far as usb printing goes. - I pretty much just use it for short prints, basically anything under 20 minutes i'll use usb. otherwise it's easier to use an sd card. especially if I'm using both machines and need s3d clear.

It is useful for printer control as well as short prints.

lol install flashprint 3.10 and it instantly downloads 3.13 - which isn't on the website. weird.

right I'll go have a play with 3.13.

[helste]

Thanks to both of you for your replies. I leveld the printbed several times, because it has 3 screws and I found out, that I have to repeat the leveling at least 2 times. Not really a big problem.

At the moment I have the printbed as it arrived here with a blue print tak on it. Not the tap, but a sheet of plastik that is exactly as big as the print bed. This works pretty well, when I do smaler area prints, but it fails on a biger flat print. The left side always warps up. I print ABS (that one, that came with the printer) at 225C and the printbed at 105C. Layer height 0.18 first layer 0.27, Bas print speed 60mm/s.

I will try to use the glass plate, that came with the printer as an extra gift, but have to print the holders first. I guess it is good to just have the holders at each corner preventing the glass from sliding around and there is no need for holding it down? I got 2 paper clips with the glass, but I cannot use that, because I do not find a place to clip it on, where it is not an obstacle for the printing head.

I already removed RG. Will stick with Flashprint for the moment and made the update to 3.13 today.

I do not really want to print directly via USB, but I would like to be able to copy the files to the SD card in the printer via USB. That would be nice, as I would not have to remove switch the card from the printer to the PC and back.
So if there is a way to copy the files via USB to the printer, please tell me how to do it.

For maintenance, I'll do some lubrication with silicon oil or something like that and keep an eye at the screws.

All in all, I am very happy with my new toy, but still a lot to learn.

[wirlybird]

When I got mine the instructions said to run the firmware update in flashprint to update to sailfish 7.8. This did give the printer display some abilities that weren't there before, forget what else is in the update.

I removed the blue sticker to use a glass plate.

I have not seen an ability to transfer files via USB.

I use USB for most regular prints and the SD card for long ones.

[helste]

Mine did not say to update firmware. Will look for it.
Yesterday late in the eveneing I removed the blue sticker prior installng the glass plate. That was a pain to remove the remaining glue. Finally I made it and now I go with the glass plate and the spray I received with the printer. Did 2 PLA prints with it and that worked pretty well.
I do not want to print via USB, but I will search for a way to transfer the filesto the printer via USB. Maybe I can find a way to make file transfer over the serial port, then I could create a little program doing that. I would prefer to find something, that can do the job though.
During my researches I discovered another slicer and just downloaded it. It's craftware. Let's have a look at it.

[helste]

Just wanted to say, that I do not think that any of the parts of the FFCP I have is made of wood. The frame is metall and the rest seems to be plastic.

[helste]

After messing around with different free slicers, I decided to buy Simplify3D. I installed it and just start to discover it using the videos on it's website.
Seems to be very comprehensive. A lot of functions to learn. Will start with a print with the basic functions setup and while it is printing study the manual and the videotutorials.