3D Printing escapades
Thus has become a troubling situation. I've Googled to find an objective,
independent site which reviews 3D printers but to my chagrin have found
none.
I found old posts on reddit whose thread is closed.
We have a Lulzbot Taz 6 (5 years old).
The nozzle cracked and we had to buy a new one. It can print both PLA and
metal but ti had problems extruing any PLA. A "tech" person saoid they;v;e
fixed that by drilling as little bit wiode hole inthe nozzle. Since then
we;ve had som really good prints and a lot of bad prints.
We slice the g-code from an .stl file (Thingiverse mostly) and save that to
a sd card which we insert directly into the printer to print.
The files get 45+ likes on Thingiverse.
Lately, most of the prints have been bad. From filament not extruding
during the print phase, it drags the filament across the bed,the 1st layer
prints badly but all the other layers print well.
We leveled the bed, changed the nozzle temsop from 205 to 210 to 220 to 230
changed the bed from 65 up to 75 degrees, changed the extraction settings,
sprayed the bed with hairspray for prints to stick better to the bed, and
purchased garlic! :)
We're considering replacing the Taz 5 with a Makerbot 3D printer as we
don't know what else to do.
We've used Ultimaker (free) to slice the g-clode, used Cura, Cura
Ultimaker, and the Prusa slicer.
We're not software engineers nor computer programmers, just public
librarians.
Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions even if it's to s share a link
to a more appropriate forum if I've drifted too far in my post
Charles.
Charles,
I suppose this is a little off topic for this forum, but let me see if I
can help. From what you describe, it sounds like you're printing PLA on
a filament printer, is that correct? (I want to make sure I understand
the printing environment correctly.) If so, it sounds like you're
having first layer adhesion issues. For PLA you shouldn't need to put
anything on the plate to get the filament to stick.
I use a Prusa MK3S+ with a MMU2S (multi material unit) and the plain
steel sheet on the print bed. I find all I need to do is keep it
extremely clean and it prints flawlessly 99% of the time. The other 1%
is because I did something wrong, typically. All I do to clean the
steel sheet is wash it thoroughly on both sides in dish soap and hot
water with a scrub brush and also give it a LIGHT scrub with a
scotchbrite pad. I dry it thoroughly with a lint free cloth and and I'm
good for several weeks of printing. All my PLA prints are run at the
recommended nozzle and bed temperatures.
If you're thinking of buying a new printer, I highly recommend the Prusa
line of FDM printers. They are certainly not the least expensive
printers on the market, but they consistently get good reviews, are
completely open source, upgradeable, and do a remarkable job, in my
opinion. Company and community support are stellar and I really like
their slicer too. Note that I have no association with Prusa other than
being a very satisfied customer.
HTH
Bill Lugg
On 8/21/22 15:50, charles meyer wrote:
Thus has become a troubling situation. I've Googled to find an
objective, independent site which reviews 3D printers but to my
chagrin have found none.
I found old posts on reddit whose thread is closed.
We have a Lulzbot Taz 6 (5 years old).
The nozzle cracked and we had to buy a new one. It can print both PLA
and metal but ti had problems extruing any PLA. A "tech" person saoid
they;v;e fixed that by drilling as little bit wiode hole inthe nozzle.
Since then we;ve had som really good prints and a lot of bad prints.
We slice the g-code from an .stl file (Thingiverse mostly) and save
that to a sd card which we insert directly into the printer to print.
The files get 45+ likes on Thingiverse.
Lately, most of the prints have been bad. From filament not extruding
during the print phase, it drags the filament across the bed,the 1st
layer prints badly but all the other layers print well.
We leveled the bed, changed the nozzle temsop from 205 to 210 to 220
to 230 changed the bed from 65 up to 75 degrees, changed the
extraction settings, sprayed the bed with hairspray for prints to
stick better to the bed, and purchased garlic! :)
We're considering replacing the Taz 5 with a Makerbot 3D printer as we
don't know what else to do.
We've used Ultimaker (free) to slice the g-clode, used Cura, Cura
Ultimaker, and the Prusa slicer.
We're not software engineers nor computer programmers, just public
librarians.
Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions even if it's to s share a
link to a more appropriate forum if I've drifted too far in my post
Charles.
Charles,
Yes printing problems are off topic for this Mailing-list. Unless they are design related, needing advice on OpenSCAD finessing.
So we should keep this short.
I'd suggest you try to find a makerspace locally or perhaps university or high school with a printer lab to seek advice from someone experienced.
Tuning a 3d printer is a very visual & hands on experience, not something easily done via emails.
Replacing the nozzle has probably changed something.
One thing to consider is the extrusion settings in the slicer, slightly different nozzle size needs extrusion/feed changes.
If a 'tech' person suggested drilling the nozzle, perhaps find a better replacement nozzle.
I note you mention metal. I have not used metal, but I understand it can be damage some nozzles, you may want to seek advice on that.
It doesn't sound like you need to replace the printer, just need to tune the first layer.
Michael
OpenSCAD Admin
From: charles meyer [mailto:reachmeplace@gmail.com]
Sent: Mon, 22 Aug 2022 07:51
To: discuss@lists.openscad.org
Subject: [OpenSCAD] 3D Printing escapades
Thus has become a troubling situation. I've Googled to find an objective, independent site which reviews 3D printers but to my chagrin have found none.
I found old posts on reddit whose thread is closed.
We have a Lulzbot Taz 6 (5 years old).
The nozzle cracked and we had to buy a new one. It can print both PLA and metal but ti had problems extruing any PLA. A "tech" person saoid they;v;e fixed that by drilling as little bit wiode hole inthe nozzle. Since then we;ve had som really good prints and a lot of bad prints.
We slice the g-code from an .stl file (Thingiverse mostly) and save that to a sd card which we insert directly into the printer to print.
The files get 45+ likes on Thingiverse.
Lately, most of the prints have been bad. From filament not extruding during the print phase, it drags the filament across the bed,the 1st layer prints badly but all the other layers print well.
We leveled the bed, changed the nozzle temsop from 205 to 210 to 220 to 230 changed the bed from 65 up to 75 degrees, changed the extraction settings, sprayed the bed with hairspray for prints to stick better to the bed, and purchased garlic! :)
We're considering replacing the Taz 5 with a Makerbot 3D printer as we don't know what else to do.
We've used Ultimaker (free) to slice the g-clode, used Cura, Cura Ultimaker, and the Prusa slicer.
We're not software engineers nor computer programmers, just public librarians.
Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions even if it's to s share a link to a more appropriate forum if I've drifted too far in my post
Charles.
--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com
p.s.
You could also have bad filament, PLA in particular can be affected by humidity.
You may want to get fresh PLA filament and keep it in a container with Damp-rid etc.
From: charles meyer [mailto:reachmeplace@gmail.com]
Sent: Mon, 22 Aug 2022 07:51
To: discuss@lists.openscad.org
Subject: [OpenSCAD] 3D Printing escapades
Thus has become a troubling situation. I've Googled to find an objective, independent site which reviews 3D printers but to my chagrin have found none.
I found old posts on reddit whose thread is closed.
We have a Lulzbot Taz 6 (5 years old).
The nozzle cracked and we had to buy a new one. It can print both PLA and metal but ti had problems extruing any PLA. A "tech" person saoid they;v;e fixed that by drilling as little bit wiode hole inthe nozzle. Since then we;ve had som really good prints and a lot of bad prints.
We slice the g-code from an .stl file (Thingiverse mostly) and save that to a sd card which we insert directly into the printer to print.
The files get 45+ likes on Thingiverse.
Lately, most of the prints have been bad. From filament not extruding during the print phase, it drags the filament across the bed,the 1st layer prints badly but all the other layers print well.
We leveled the bed, changed the nozzle temsop from 205 to 210 to 220 to 230 changed the bed from 65 up to 75 degrees, changed the extraction settings, sprayed the bed with hairspray for prints to stick better to the bed, and purchased garlic! :)
We're considering replacing the Taz 5 with a Makerbot 3D printer as we don't know what else to do.
We've used Ultimaker (free) to slice the g-clode, used Cura, Cura Ultimaker, and the Prusa slicer.
We're not software engineers nor computer programmers, just public librarians.
Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions even if it's to s share a link to a more appropriate forum if I've drifted too far in my post
Charles.
--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com
Where are you in physical reality? Perhaps you are close enough for
somebody to come give you a hand.
Q for everybody: does anybody have a favorite general 3D printing
mailing list / forum / et cetera that queries like this can be referred to?
On 8/21/22 20:57, Jordan Brown wrote:
Where are you in physical reality? Perhaps you are close enough for
somebody to come give you a hand.
Q for everybody: does anybody have a favorite general 3D printing
mailing list / forum / et cetera that queries like this can be referred to?
That thought crossed my mind a year ago, but such a critter does not
exist. Some of the
makers run a forum but restrict it such that an honest discussion is not
possible. And since
OpenSCAD is ideal for designing stuff to print, we get some of the
"fallout".
I've PM'd the OP, but since he came in from gmail, I've no clue if he
got the the msg or not.
I get 10 bounces from a gmail address for one from all the other servers
out there. Just
one of the reasons I voted with my wallet well over a decade back.
Cheers, Gene Heskett.
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author, 1940)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
- Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/
On 8/21/2022 5:50 PM, charles meyer wrote:
. . .
The nozzle cracked and we had to buy a new one. It can print both PLA
and metal but ti had problems extruing any PLA. A "tech" person saoid
they;v;e fixed that by drilling as little bit wiode hole inthe nozzle.
Since then we;ve had som really good prints and a lot of bad prints.
Others have provide good advice. I can only add that, if your "tech"
person suggested drilling out a nozzle, please find another person for
technical advice and disregard much if not all of anyother suggestions
the "tech" may have provided.
The nozzle holes are quite precisely made and come in different
diameters, so, no need to drill, it can only make things worse.
You would do well to replace that nozzle with one of a "hardened"
variety that will last much longer if using "metal" or carbon fiber
filaments.
Very often printer adjustments are needed after a nozzle change. Guides
on "what" and "how" are on the internet.
I believe nozzles are precision parts but cheap.
I got a prebuilt Prusa. It worked out of the box with PLA but not
especially well - prints came unstuck, spaghetti etc.
I learnt to wash the base board with hot water and detergent, did some
calibration, that improved things but the prints were never really nice and
the thing was temperamental .
And then for some reason I decided to print PETG. I got a textured
baseboard and some PETG from Prusa, and ran a calibration, the prints are
wonderful,l it just works. All I can say is the thing seems made for
printing PETG, it is rock solid printing PETG, which by the way is the
material is a lot of its parts are printed from. I just printed a part
after the printer had been idle for 3 months and it printed perfectly.
Moral of the story - I think one should get a printer that does a certain
job well and is known for it, and just do that one thing, do a calibration,
lock down the settings and forget about changing materials etc, that is a
recipe for endless fidddling.
Edmund
On Tue, Aug 23, 2022 at 12:04 AM joe a joea-lists@j4computers.com wrote:
On 8/21/2022 5:50 PM, charles meyer wrote:
. . .
The nozzle cracked and we had to buy a new one. It can print both PLA
and metal but ti had problems extruing any PLA. A "tech" person saoid
they;v;e fixed that by drilling as little bit wiode hole inthe nozzle.
Since then we;ve had som really good prints and a lot of bad prints.
Others have provide good advice. I can only add that, if your "tech"
person suggested drilling out a nozzle, please find another person for
technical advice and disregard much if not all of anyother suggestions
the "tech" may have provided.
The nozzle holes are quite precisely made and come in different
diameters, so, no need to drill, it can only make things worse.
You would do well to replace that nozzle with one of a "hardened"
variety that will last much longer if using "metal" or carbon fiber
filaments.
Very often printer adjustments are needed after a nozzle change. Guides
on "what" and "how" are on the internet.
OpenSCAD mailing list
To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org
LOL, PETG is the only plastic I don't use because I couldn't get it to
bridge because unsupported filament sticks to the nozzle and gets ripped up
when it lays down adjacent runs. I couldn't see any way around that other
than using a teflon coated nozzle.
On Tue, 23 Aug 2022 at 04:55, edmund ronald edmundronald@gmail.com wrote:
I believe nozzles are precision parts but cheap.
I got a prebuilt Prusa. It worked out of the box with PLA but not
especially well - prints came unstuck, spaghetti etc.
I learnt to wash the base board with hot water and detergent, did some
calibration, that improved things but the prints were never really nice and
the thing was temperamental .
And then for some reason I decided to print PETG. I got a textured
baseboard and some PETG from Prusa, and ran a calibration, the prints are
wonderful,l it just works. All I can say is the thing seems made for
printing PETG, it is rock solid printing PETG, which by the way is the
material is a lot of its parts are printed from. I just printed a part
after the printer had been idle for 3 months and it printed perfectly.
Moral of the story - I think one should get a printer that does a certain
job well and is known for it, and just do that one thing, do a calibration,
lock down the settings and forget about changing materials etc, that is a
recipe for endless fidddling.
Edmund
On Tue, Aug 23, 2022 at 12:04 AM joe a joea-lists@j4computers.com wrote:
On 8/21/2022 5:50 PM, charles meyer wrote:
. . .
The nozzle cracked and we had to buy a new one. It can print both PLA
and metal but ti had problems extruing any PLA. A "tech" person saoid
they;v;e fixed that by drilling as little bit wiode hole inthe nozzle.
Since then we;ve had som really good prints and a lot of bad prints.
Others have provide good advice. I can only add that, if your "tech"
person suggested drilling out a nozzle, please find another person for
technical advice and disregard much if not all of anyother suggestions
the "tech" may have provided.
The nozzle holes are quite precisely made and come in different
diameters, so, no need to drill, it can only make things worse.
You would do well to replace that nozzle with one of a "hardened"
variety that will last much longer if using "metal" or carbon fiber
filaments.
Very often printer adjustments are needed after a nozzle change. Guides
on "what" and "how" are on the internet.
OpenSCAD mailing list
To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org
OpenSCAD mailing list
To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org
I print PLA on my Prusa all of the time. I use their textured print
surface sprayed with hairspray.
Jon
On 8/22/2022 11:53 PM, edmund ronald wrote:
I believe nozzles are precision parts but cheap.
I got a prebuilt Prusa. It worked out of the box with PLA but not
especially well - prints came unstuck, spaghetti etc.
I learnt to wash the base board with hot water and detergent, did some
calibration, that improved things but the prints were never really
nice and the thing was temperamental .
And then for some reason I decided to print PETG. I got a textured
baseboard and some PETG from Prusa, and ran a calibration, the prints
are wonderful,l it just works. All I can say is the thing seems made
for printing PETG, it is rock solid printing PETG, which by the way is
the material is a lot of its parts are printed from. I just printed a
part after the printer had been idle for 3 months and it printed
perfectly.
Moral of the story - I think one should get a printer that does a
certain job well and is known for it, and just do that one thing, do a
calibration, lock down the settings and forget about changing
materials etc, that is a recipe for endless fidddling.
Edmund