Sore fingers, amazement, frustrations and hair spray: First days with my Creator Pro

[Serena]

lol well i can say categorically it does not work for abs.

I will try it with pla - as it did create a sticky surface, just not for abs.

I still think it was a wind up :-)

Cool. Keep us updated.

If you go to home depot or lowes, they have drywall knifes that are "full flex". These work great since you can flex them flat and slide easily under a print with less chance of tearing tape.

I will definitely check that out- thanks for the tip! Especially since last night I tore my tape wedging a print off. Grrr.... retaping that kapton is something I really don't enjoy doing.

Yep, full flex knife is the way to go. I use a Stanley knife, but I extend it all the way out, those separating blades are really flexible.

Glad to hear you are going well with it Serena, I've not said much in this thread, these guys prob have more experience than me with the Flashforge X, there does seem to be a fair amount different between those and the old one I've got.

As for stick, sorry, for me can't beat blue tape and PLA now...

Out of 3 machines, a kossel, prusa and FF, I get the same exact result with my PLA now and that is dead flat prints that will stick forever unless you pry them off..

Totally non heated bed, 200c nozzle and blue tape on glass ... and if there is ever a stick issue, I use a kids glue stick on the blue tape before printing. Best stuff ever. Best way to get zero corner lift from your prints all the way through the print.

I have learned tons from the tips you've given on this forum- you have been a big help all ready. I haven't tried PLA yet but I'm thinking I really want to soon. In my early researching it seemed like many thought ABS was trickier to get nailed down and PLA was a bit easier. Not sure if that's really true or not. But my thinking was to start with the hardest and go from there. Of course, that thinking tends to get me in trouble! ;-) I know I will be printing a lot of cookie cutters and those do better with ABS so they can be put in dishwasher. (Which i tested and it didn't melt-yay!) But I feel like PLA has better colors, and I would much prefer working with blue tape than kapton which is ridiculously easy to tear and a pain to put on without bubbles.

The last couple of days I have been focusing on the design aspect of the process, and that has it's own GIANT learning curve. I'd like to ask- what is everyone's prefered software choice for creating a 3D model? I've been doing graphic design for 12 years, and I thought that 3D modeling would be a natural segue from there. But it's more like trying to do everything I'm used to doing with my left hand. The whole concept is just different. I've chosen to use Blender which is a ginormous program and a bit overwhelming. I am starting to get the hang of it and I've got the basics but sometimes the littlest things can take me hours to figure out. I also thought that I would be able to use the vast amount of vectors I all ready own as a starting base for designs, or at least as some embellishments, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that. I tried Rhino and didn't care for that, and I don't want to spend the money on Maya or 3Ds Max. Tinkercad was way to simple and doesn't let me do all my (overly) complicated ideas. As of now my workflow is modeling in Blender, checking my mesh and sizing in MeshMixer, and then Simplify3D to print. I would love to hear what other people have found works for them.

[jdg56]

Cool. Keep us updated.

I will definitely check that out- thanks for the tip! Especially since last night I tore my tape wedging a print off. Grrr.... retaping that kapton is something I really don't enjoy doing.

When I got my (first) glass bed, I was concerned about how to apply the kapton tape. I'm afraid I didn't keep the link, but Googling how to apply kapton tape turned up a Youtube clip that is an excellent solution.

This is not suitable for the built-in bed, as it involved liquid, which will not play well with the bed heater.

parts: bed, bowl of water, healthy dollop of dish washing soap (liquid), your kapton tape, old credit card

Wash the removable bed and dry it, to clean it off. In a small bowl, mix some water and a healthy dollop of dish-washing detergent. Measure out your kapton so it's ready to go, put the bed on a towel to sop up the excess liquid, and then liberally coat the bed with the soapy water. I mean, a total lot of liquid on the bed.

When you place the kapton tape on the bed, it will not stick. It will float on the water, letting you align the edges. Once it's square to the edges, hold it down in one spot and use the edge of the credit card to gently squeegee out the water from under the tape. You'll need to do this multiple times before it starts to stick to the bed, but when it starts to stick on the end you're squeegeeing, squeegee the end you've been holding. Any air bubbles will be driven out along with the soapy water, so you wind up with a nice flat bed with no bubbles. if it shifts the first few times you squeegee, you can just reposition it, since it's still floating on some water.

After the entire bed is 'dry', I fold the tape under the ends and let it stick to the bottom of the bed to hold it in place. With my glass beds, I try to make sure that the overhang folded under the bed is longer on one end than the other, so I can orient the glass the same way after I remove it to wash of the glue stick I use for my abs printing. The plates I have are pretty even, but one of them is off by about .2mm between one corner and it's opposite, so I level it in one orientation and then always install it the same way after that. If you're doing this with an aluminum bed, I suppose you could just write 'R' on the right side with a permanent marker, since the tape is transparent.

That's it. It works flawlessly for me. I do a preheat cycle to drive out any water that may remain under the bed.

I have 6" kapton. This should work with narrower strips, if you do one at a time. Once the kapton is stuck down, it doesn't seem to mind repeated washing.

Cheers,

John

[Geoff]

When I got my (first) glass bed, I was concerned about how to apply the kapton tape. I'm afraid I didn't keep the link, but Googling how to apply kapton tape turned up a Youtube clip that is an excellent solution.

This is not suitable for the built-in bed, as it involved liquid, which will not play well with the bed heater.

parts: bed, bowl of water, healthy dollop of dish washing soap (liquid), your kapton tape, old credit card

Wash the removable bed and dry it, to clean it off. In a small bowl, mix some water and a healthy dollop of dish-washing detergent. Measure out your kapton so it's ready to go, put the bed on a towel to sop up the excess liquid, and then liberally coat the bed with the soapy water. I mean, a total lot of liquid on the bed.

When you place the kapton tape on the bed, it will not stick. It will float on the water, letting you align the edges. Once it's square to the edges, hold it down in one spot and use the edge of the credit card to gently squeegee out the water from under the tape. You'll need to do this multiple times before it starts to stick to the bed, but when it starts to stick on the end you're squeegeeing, squeegee the end you've been holding. Any air bubbles will be driven out along with the soapy water, so you wind up with a nice flat bed with no bubbles. if it shifts the first few times you squeegee, you can just reposition it, since it's still floating on some water.

After the entire bed is 'dry', I fold the tape under the ends and let it stick to the bottom of the bed to hold it in place. With my glass beds, I try to make sure that the overhang folded under the bed is longer on one end than the other, so I can orient the glass the same way after I remove it to wash of the glue stick I use for my abs printing. The plates I have are pretty even, but one of them is off by about .2mm between one corner and it's opposite, so I level it in one orientation and then always install it the same way after that. If you're doing this with an aluminum bed, I suppose you could just write 'R' on the right side with a permanent marker, since the tape is transparent.

That's it. It works flawlessly for me. I do a preheat cycle to drive out any water that may remain under the bed.

I have 6" kapton. This should work with narrower strips, if you do one at a time. Once the kapton is stuck down, it doesn't seem to mind repeated washing.

Cheers,

John

I stopped doing that a few months ago, instead now I just use a smaller piece of kapton (because why cover the entire bed if you are not using it all?)

Now, I cut about half a plate of kapton off the roll, put it right in the middle, and if there is bubbles keep lifting and re-applying using a credit card to smooth the bubbles. The smaller the piece of kapton, the easier it is to work with.

[jdg56]

I stopped doing that a few months ago, instead now I just use a smaller piece of kapton (because why cover the entire bed if you are not using it all?)

Now, I cut about half a plate of kapton off the roll, put it right in the middle, and if there is bubbles keep lifting and re-applying using a credit card to smooth the bubbles. The smaller the piece of kapton, the easier it is to work with.

I'll have to try that next time. I tend to print stuff all over the plate, moving from one corner to the other, to maximize the printing I can do before I have to wash it off and re-apply the glue stick. However, you are right, it might be easier to just do partial coverage.

Cheers,

John

[Geoff]

I'll have to try that next time. I tend to print stuff all over the plate, moving from one corner to the other, to maximize the printing I can do before I have to wash it off and re-apply the glue stick. However, you are right, it might be easier to just do partial coverage.

Cheers,

John

It was so painful for me replacing that whole sheet, I did it once a month or couple of months for 2 years..argh... and my wife lol, I used to get her to hold the roll tight while I laid it on the bed...(err that didn't come out right...)

anyway.... when I got into PLA more and wood etc I started using Blue tape...

Then I got lazy and when I put kapton back on... when i switched to blue tape once more, I left the kapton on, and put the blue tape over the kapton... Now this did 2 interesting things.. It gave me an extra insulation layer and the parts curl up even less more as they have a buffer between the heatbed now, the blue tape holds heat in too. And the second, was my prints are now 0.0.. whatever milimeters closer to the plate because of the double layer... so printing raftless WITH supports is now a breeze. I used to need a raft for the supports because they wouldnt stick to the bed well, but now thats not a problem.

I'll be honest, I use that combination now for ABS and PLA now for everything, if it's ABS I use the kids glue stick on the blue tape, and PLA just plain on the bed, no additional crap. I don't know if the 3M 3" Blue tape im using is anything special it's the only one I've really tried so far.

[jdg56]

My local Lowe's has a few 'improved' types of 3M blue tape which are useless in the printer. I'm stocking up on the 'regular' tape so when they eventually [tinfoil_hat] cave in to the anti-3d-printing corporate manufacturist cartel and [/tinfoil_hat] stop making the 'good' stuff, I'll be able to carry on whilst we wait for quantum bed adhesion.

They don't seem to carry the 3" width, which is how I started experimenting with the 'new' versions.

My current addition to the gnome army (my office at work is a total playland of Things) is separating from the kapton tape in the freezer, but I'll definitely give the kapton+3M tape a try tomorrow.. This kapton is a bit scuffed. Will that affect using it along side blue tape, or can I experiment without having to replace it?

Cheers,

John