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

[Stigern]

Have some trouble writing ABS with my Pro. It won't stick properly, I've tried kapton & blue tape.

Could it be that my heatbed isn't hot enough?

[Serena]

PLA and ABS completely different to work with Serena, but I have to say I really do like the look of printed PLA, it's shiny and looks sleek. It really is worth just getting a roll and trying it, get a nice bright colour.

ABS gives you more headaches with things lifting off the heatbed whereas PLA gives you headaches with the printing temperature.. too hot and the top layer raises up alot as it prints and get's messy, but over all I have to say for someone who was a total ABS fanatic, I really am finding myself loving PLA more. It is also very malleable, if you put PLA in hot water, it can be maniuplated into other shapes.

The way I look at it now, if it is a functional part, like a Gear, or print head or something that needs to be durable, I print in ABS, if it is an arty thing, busts, sculptures, toys etc, or very very large prints, I go with PLA just because it's easier to work with.

Yeah that's what I'm noticing is the brightness of the colors on the PLA looks really good. And I will be printing mostly decorative things. Except the cookie cutters which need to be dishwasher safe. Definitely going to get some. I'm off to amazon.com! :-)


[QUOTE=curious aardvark;29800]as far as quality goes - that chloe print would look just as good printed at 0.3 layer and 10 % infill.
Which would be MUCH faster :-)

Also if you rounded off the top - rather than keep it flat you could print it hollow. Much much quicker and way less plastic and it would look better and feel nicer.
I'm impressed you got that much abs to print without warping.
/QUOTE]

The rounded top is a great idea! Now to figure out how to get blender to listen to me....... ;-)

[Serena]

Stigern- I will let the experts answer more since I am totally new, but I can say that so far I've had success printing abs with my bed between 225-230. I had trouble sticking early on though, due to my bed not being level. I think it was too far from the nozzle and it wouldn't stick. Many gave me great advice earlier in this thread if you want to scroll back.

[Stigern]

Stigern- I will let the experts answer more since I am totally new, but I can say that so far I've had success printing abs with my bed between 225-230. I had trouble sticking early on though, due to my bed not being level. I think it was too far from the nozzle and it wouldn't stick. Many gave me great advice earlier in this thread if you want to scroll back.

225,230 C on the bed?

[Geoff]

@geoff - for gears pla is better because it's harder and less prone to wear. Not so good if they get real hot - but apprently for wearing it's a lot better.

So are you selling just the plastic parts or complete kossel kits ?
I thinm we're nearly at the point where I want to try building one from scratch. Just ordering the right bits thats the issue as I have no idea which bits works best and are cheapest :-)

PLA is stiffer but nowhere near as strong as ABS for a gear I find, sorry you can't convert me, and i've been doing this a fair bit longer than you mate PLA gears are rigid yes, seem great .. but have zero stress tolerance, warp over time (no matter how well you printed it to start with) and have more of a tendency to snap off small segments from stress fractures, like gear teeth.

I sell both complete kits and parts, in ABS or PLA it depends on what they want, end effector, zprobe holder and gears always in ABS. I prefer to have peace of mind knowing i've sold someone an end effector that wont melt to buggery during a print.

@ Stigern..

Get a kids Glue stick, use some of that on the blue tape if you are having stick issues, but at 110c hotbed, it should not be having issues sticking really.

Is it lifting straight away or after a while?

[Serena]

Oops sorry- that's the extruder temp. Bed is between 106-110c.

[Stigern]

PLA is stiffer but nowhere near as strong as ABS for a gear I find, sorry you can't convert me, and i've been doing this a fair bit longer than you mate PLA gears are rigid yes, seem great .. but have zero stress tolerance, warp over time (no matter how well you printed it to start with) and have more of a tendency to snap off small segments from stress fractures, like gear teeth.

I sell both complete kits and parts, in ABS or PLA it depends on what they want, end effector, zprobe holder and gears always in ABS. I prefer to have peace of mind knowing i've sold someone an end effector that wont melt to buggery during a print.

@ Stigern..

Get a kids Glue stick, use some of that on the blue tape if you are having stick issues, but at 110c hotbed, it should not be having issues sticking really.

Is it lifting straight away or after a while?

Straight away, I'm gonna level my build plate again, and try some more. Maybe enclose my printer better. Haven't attached the top acrylic cover yet.

[Geoff]

Straight away, I'm gonna level my build plate again, and try some more. Maybe enclose my printer better. Haven't attached the top acrylic cover yet.

Ok if it is lifting straight away, we have a bed level issue, not an ABS issue. If you have the bed at 110c, the ABS should no matter what, be sticking well for at least the first 10-20 layers or so

If you have Blue tape, here is a good trick to get you going..

Add another layer of blue tape on top of whatever you have there, so you have 2 layers... heat the bed to 112c when you print, you will see a big difference. The extra tape saves you re-levelling the bed also, its a band aid fix but tells you if you are on the right track or not.

[curious aardvark]

PLA is stiffer but nowhere near as strong as ABS for a gear I find, sorry you can't convert me, and i've been doing this a fair bit longer than you mate PLA gears are rigid yes, seem great .. but have zero stress tolerance, warp over time (no matter how well you printed it to start with) and have more of a tendency to snap off small segments from stress fractures, like gear teeth.

lol true. I was just going by soemone who was running gears with a drill. reckoned the pla stood up better.
I will bow to your greater experience :-)

Had a look at the creator pro specs.

Key features and improvements:
- Sturdy metal frame is substantially more stable than the Creator's original wood frame.
- Warp-resistant 6.3mm aluminum build platform remains perfectly level under the stress of high heat.
- New heat-resistant metal platform supports replace plastic supports.
- New heavy-duty (10mm) z-axis guide rod ensures steady and precise movement.
- New acrylic cover encloses the chamber to insulate and protect ABS prints.
- New LED light illuminates the build chamber..

I can see why you're getting better abs results than I do :-)
I haven't got any of that stuff lol

[Geoff]

- Sturdy metal frame is substantially more stable than the Creator's original wood frame.
- Warp-resistant 6.3mm aluminum build platform remains perfectly level under the stress of high heat.
- New heat-resistant metal platform supports replace plastic supports.
- New heavy-duty (10mm) z-axis guide rod ensures steady and precise movement.
- New acrylic cover encloses the chamber to insulate and protect ABS prints.
- New LED light illuminates the build chamber..

Now you would think that with all that, it would have improved things. Now, I don't know why but you would think that if I can do it without hassle on my caveman-flashforge-3d-wooden-casket of a machine, you would think with all the improvements, that printing ABS would be easier for you, but it's not.

I will spend some considerable time this weekend doing ABS vs PLA tests