Room Temperature Limits

[Warleyman]

Having had a couple of bad prints, where the left hand edge of the print kept lifting and fouling the print heads, is there a practical limit on room temperature for printing. I currently use my printer in a conservatory, where the temperature is often below 20 degrees C, and the machine will "cold-soak" to that level overnight. The problem has only just reared its head as the OAT has started to drop, as Autumn sets in, and I wondered if anyone else had experienced similar problems.
One thing that I had noticed was that the nozzles would heat up to 220, for ABS, but when the print started the temp dropped to 218/219 as the print progressed, as though the temperature of the filament was dragging the nozzle temp down.

Any ideas or thoughts?

[curious aardvark]

for abs - yep you will have issues.
For most other fillaments, No.
I did a lot of printing at 15c and below last winter, currently 18 in here at the moment.
There are soooo many good and better alternatives to abs these days, that continuing to fight with it is just pointless.

Just finished m,y first prin with innofill pro 1. prints just like good pla.
Quite impressed actually. Claims to be better than abs and definitely hassle free printing.

basically abs has issues and will always have issues - the material industry sypplying the fdm 3d print industry has got round it with Lots of new and better materials, most at pretty decent prices too.

There is no reason to continue to fight abs.

[Warleyman]

That's interesting! I haven't tried any other types of filament yet - only had the printer for a few weeks and still getting to know it! OK - something else to try out! Thanks for reply.

[printbus]

If you keep using a heated bed even with other filament types, there a couple of things you can do that might help. I think a lot of people try to start printing when the bed temp sensor is at the proper temperature, but the print surface of the bed is not. Cover the heated bed with a piece of cardboard or something else to act as an insulator while it heats up. That should help the heat soak throughout the bed instead of being lost to the cool room. If you have the slicer set to turn on the heat bed as part of a print, try turning on the heat bed manually some number of minutes earlier. This would also help allow heat to thoroughly soak through the bed, hopefully improving your first layer adhesion.

[curious aardvark]

That's interesting! I haven't tried any other types of filament yet - only had the printer for a few weeks and still getting to know it! OK - something else to try out! Thanks for reply.

Ah well in that case you are in for a huge and very pleasant surprise :-)

Check these guys out: www.globalfsd.com
They do 10 & 20 metre samples of more filament than you can shake a 3d printed stick at.
The cheapest and funniest way to try out new types of filament.

I'd also recommend printbite - brilliant stuff. https://flex3drive.com/printbite/
Takes a lot of the hassle out of life. I no longer: spray, wipe, glue,scrape my build plate. Also don't swear at it anymore :-)

Takes an awful lot of the hassle out of 3d printing.

[Todd-67]

If you keep using a heated bed even with other filament types, there a couple of things you can do that might help. I think a lot of people try to start printing when the bed temp sensor is at the proper temperature, but the print surface of the bed is not. Cover the heated bed with a piece of cardboard or something else to act as an insulator while it heats up. That should help the heat soak throughout the bed instead of being lost to the cool room. If you have the slicer set to turn on the heat bed as part of a print, try turning on the heat bed manually some number of minutes earlier. This would also help allow heat to thoroughly soak through the bed, hopefully improving your first layer adhesion.

^^This is the right advice. I routinely print at those temps and what he is suggesting is sound advice. I turn the machine on and set the bed to the temp I am desiring and let it sit a full temp for quite a bit if it's cold out. The filament extrusion temp can just be bumped up higher to compensate. I also use brims to run a good bit material through the nozzle before it starts to actually print the part. I only use ABS and I almost never have issues printing.

[wirlybird]

Ah well in that case you are in for a huge and very pleasant surprise :-)

Check these guys out: www.globalfsd.com
They do 10 & 20 metre samples of more filament than you can shake a 3d printed stick at.
The cheapest and funniest way to try out new types of filament.

I'd also recommend printbite - brilliant stuff. https://flex3drive.com/printbite/
Takes a lot of the hassle out of life. I no longer: spray, wipe, glue,scrape my build plate. Also don't swear at it anymore :-)

Takes an awful lot of the hassle out of 3d printing.

I have tried some of the other similar ones with no luck. The PrintinZ ones were terrible. Nothing would stick.
How long do you have to wait to get the print off?
How are you getting it off?
Not doubting you on this but I am just wondering what makes this so different than all the others that make the same claims?

[djprinter]

220 is too cold for ABS, try printing at 240 or 245.

IMO the only way to print ABS consistently is to heat your build chamber to a consistent temperature, I keep my chamber heated to 50c at all times and my ABS prints don't curl at all, not matter how big they are.

Here's a link to a cheap heated chamber mod that utilizes a $10 hair dryer and a $30 temperature controller to maintain ideal chamber temps: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1524781

[Warleyman]

Phew! Loads of advice and lots to try out! Thanks guys - there's a shed load of options it seems and thanks for all your advice and suggestions. I am experimenting with materials and flow rates at the moment with some much better results. I have tried to stick with ABS at the moment simply because I am trying out some projects for my local school where I worked until recently(now a retired teacher!), and that seems to be more suited to the types of need that they have, especially in terms of cost and availability of supplies, ie they have a ton of ABS filament! Re calibration of the machine has given some improvement as has putting a heater in the work room/conservatory. A test print routine has shown a rise in extruder temperature is on the cards and I will run some test prints to determine the best for the filament that I have. I have also secured a couple of rolls of Innofil to try for my own work but that is on the back boiler for the moment.
As an aside - I was disappointed to discover that I need to be able to install OpenGL for the software packages that it was suggested that I install, and to find out that HP machines of a certain vintage will not accept those drivers! I currently have Flashprint - that crashes and will not run at all - S3D - that flashes up a warning each time but will run - and Replicator 3G that seems to work fine but is oviously happier if the printer is actually wired into the computer. Has anyone else come across this issue, and how did you deal with it?

[curious aardvark]

I have tried some of the other similar ones with no luck. The PrintinZ ones were terrible. Nothing would stick.
How long do you have to wait to get the print off?
How are you getting it off?
Not doubting you on this but I am just wondering what makes this so different than all the others that make the same claims?

all I can say is that the others are not the same stuff.
Here's the printbite thread: http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...ntbite-surface
pretty much documented everything I've tried and how well it worked.