PLA Troubles

[NEM]

Using blue tape with heated bed helped a lot. Thanks for the input everyone.

It seems that I'm seeing some issues with oozing now, starting corner on build always has a little extra blob of plastic and that throws off every layer afterwards. Any ideas?

[NEM]

Shots of all 4 corners of my test box in it's current state. Rotating around the box to follow the perimeter tool path. Blob is on the first corner. This box is also printing out of square. The first layer on the first side is printing proper width, but every other layer is about .5mm short of full width. You can see the issue in the first image. I trimmed the first layer back a bit to get my calipers on the base as I've been measuring base and top width for variance. I'm also getting something of an "hourglass" effect on this, as you can see in the image.

I'm continuing to experiment with skeinforge settings, but I'd love any feedback if anybody has a quick fix to any of the obvious issues below.


IMG_20141214_145534726.jpg IMG_20141214_145551876.jpg IMG_20141214_145604409.jpg IMG_20141214_145625742.jpg

[jfkansas]

Hi everyone, I just bought my first 3D printer and it's awesome. It's a PowerSpec 3D Pro dual extruder from Microcenter. I'm using ReplicatorG for printing and Skeinforge for slicing/gcode generation.

Having said that, I'm having some challenges printing with PLA filament. Take a look at the photos below to see what I'm talking about. This is all from a single print job, but it's pretty consistent with what I've been getting. I've adjusted print bed temp (anywhere from 50 - 75 C), hot end temp (from 165 - 185 deg), feed rate (from 33 - 60 mm/s), all without being able to get a clean print from top to bottom. I get the curling corners regardless of what my print settings are, with a raft or without.

Oh yeah, I'm printing on the Kapton tape that came with the printer.

I'm actually going back and leveling my print bed again just to cross that off the list. Thanks for your help!

Attachment 3831 Attachment 3832 Attachment 3833 Attachment 3834

It isn't a bed leveling issue. It is a layer cooling issue. It isn't a Build plate temp issue. I bet if you print 2-3 of those at the same time your problems will go away. Test it out and see what happens. If the problem goes away if you print 3 at a time you will know that the layers aren't solid when the next layer is put down. You might have a little over extrusion going on also that compounds the problem.

[NEM]

Thanks JF. Learning a lot in these early stages. Any advice on how to identify and compensate for over extrusion? I've read in RepRap forums that you can adjust extruder steps per unit after extruding a fixed amount of filament, but this printer doesn't seem to be as open to firmware level tinkering.

Also, I enabled skirt and oozebane settings (default) in Skeinforge and saw marked improvement. The skirt gets rid of that first corner blob, runs a lap, then we get down to printing. Continuing to tinker, appreciate all of the tips.

[jfkansas]

Use Makerware to start at least and install Profitweak. You don't need to mess with steps.

[NEM]

What's the reason for Makerware/ProfTweak? More familiarity or more available settings? Fewer settings so less likely to screw something up (I've already done plenty of that spades with RepG/Skeinforge)?

I ask because I'm running on Win8.1 right now so I can't install Makerware. I'm going to set up a separate machine for print work at some point in time, just haven't gotten around to it.

[ssayer]

I'm running Win8.1 and have Makerware installed (and I don't mean Makerware Desktop Bloatware!). No problems with it at all. I've since bought S3D just because I wanted more...

[NEM]

Can you supply the installer for Makerware? I can't find it online anywhere as Makerbot is pushing MDB like there's no tomorrow. I tried Geoff's download link but I couldn't install the program.

[jfkansas]

What's the reason for Makerware/ProfTweak? More familiarity or more available settings? Fewer settings so less likely to screw something up (I've already done plenty of that spades with RepG/Skeinforge)?

I ask because I'm running on Win8.1 right now so I can't install Makerware. I'm going to set up a separate machine for print work at some point in time, just haven't gotten around to it.

http://www.makerbot.com/desktop

Why can't you install on win8?

I have used Makerware desktop before springing for Simplify3d.. It works pretty good and yes it is to access a more known set of settings to start with.

[NEM]

That links to the new Makerbot Desktop for me, not original Makerware. I can install that just fine on Win 8. My understanding is that there was a previous version just labeled Makerware that lots of people on this board seem to think quite highly of.

How do you feel about Simplify3D? Was it worth the money? I looked at it and considered purchasing, but had a hard time justifying the cost, especially without a trial option. I'm not a big fan of shelling out $140 US for something unless it gets the job done. That said, while I'm learning a lot about how 3d Printing works, I'd love to be actually printing. I've had a queue of print requests since day 1. Funny how that works.