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| Pete49:
After having my Da Vinci 3D printer for over a year I thought I would like to flash it to a better system (reprap type) but thought I should get another printer in case it goes pear shaped. Well last week I bought a 3D printer kit from ebay and proceeded to put it together. Went together just fine and loaded the software and firmware and tried a print. mmmmmmm not that good so levelled the bed again and checked all parts for accuracy but still no improvement so of the supplier of the machine and while they tried to help it only sort of fixed it. So now resorting to the various forums to see if I can get it working better. Just as well I decided to go this way or I may well have had no printer to play with. The kit version CTC clone uses Cura 14.07.01 but I'm not game to change anything until I can get this working properly. I'm still working with the suppliers of the kit with some success but any wise types here are welcome to butt in. Pete |
| Joules:
:worthless: Need more details Pete, example of print, blob, jammed filament. Have you got a corner shimmed up with nuts, wood, dinner plate ? |
| Pete49:
Hi Joules here's a bit more info. Once the bed was levelled I adjusted the nozzle so a piece of paper just drags from under it at all 4 corners and the centre. (this was with a heated bed approx. 68C). The robot sample was average but when I went to print the whistle....well here's the result. It also fails to stick to the bed regardless of the glue method both Uhu or hairspray and even tried without adhesive as suggested by a few others. I stopped it after the first layers as it was not doing the fill in . I added the picture so you can see what it is supposed to be as we can't send stl files. Its using the marlin firmware I believe as it seemed to be the default though there are a couple others 1 of which is Reprap volumetric but not game to make changes as yet, if it helps Pete |
| Joules:
First observations.... Pete, way too much glue, you need a film rather than a pool. Get some genuine 3M blu tape, clean off the bed, apply tape where your going to print and clean tape with isopropanol. Now set your print head, but to the surface of the tape (paper clearance as before). This is your new datum. You now want to print a 1-2cm cube, solid or open topped shell. You will be printing a LOT of them to fine tune the printer. It doesn't all look bad, your extruder is working and the filament looks fairly even, no really thin or thick extrusions. Your base layer fails as it hasn't anything to bond too. The glue you have is too flexible, like printing on foam rubber and it's dragging on the print head. You maybe under extruding, for the fill, or your step over is too large. You need an amount of overlap to weld each line to the next and weld to the perimeter. However till you can lay down a good foundation it's all guess work. Show me a test print with no glue on the bed. Let it build up a few layers deep, even if the print slips. If PLA try using a bed temp of 40 C, 67 C is way over your glass temperature for PLA. I should also ask what filament you print, ABS or PLA. Do you print a border on your first layer to prime the print head, this is pretty important especially on small prints from cold. |
| Joules:
This is my standard test print. 25mm open topped cube, very useful for setting accurate print characteristics. Note the outer ring printed to prime the head. The above print didn't have the correct step over so my base fill was more like mesh than a solid base. |
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