3D Printer yet?

[HobGoblyn]

hmm my next test isn't going so well

[HobGoblyn]

It's supposed to look like this



but ended up looking like

[Mr. Scram]

Did it come loose? That would definitely be a bed adhesion problem.

[HobGoblyn]

no, was stuck to the bed until it finished

[mnementh]

      

Thanks, bean! 

mnem
squeeee!

http://www.yqcomputer.com/213_1146_3.htm#p41

Thanks for the link, Z... I knew I'd read that before. I spent ridiculous amounts of time trying to find that quote AGAIN and gave up only reluctantly, being as I actually quoted it when we discussed the SoW in the TEA thread a couple years ago.

mnem
Am a wise dwagon yet...?

[beanflying]

no, was stuck to the bed until it finished

A guess but look carefully at the point (layer) is started to go wrong the pics are a bit low rez to tell but it looks to have had a layer shift on one axis? What you are looking for is a definite deviation in the vertical walls of the print well below the eventual failure. Given the fine detail of the top end of that test some of the print is then being printed on air which then led to the towers falling over and your FIRST (there will be more  ) visit from the spaghetti monster

[mnementh]

hmm my next test isn't going so well

Looks like your hotend temp is way out to lunch, or maybe your extruder is skipping. Get you a temp tower; this is a good one, and the author includes the gcode already sliced for E3: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3912855

Here's another: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3329956

Don't slice the STL, just copy the gcode file to your SD card & print it; a temp tower requires post-code that makes the hotend change temp at given intervals. These folks kindly posted their E3 optimized gcodes so you wouldn't have to figure that sh..tuff out first day of printing.

   Third likely possibility is you don't have the Bowden tube seated properly or sealed in the throat of the heat-break tube and it's generating mini-clogs. You're supposed to unscrew the pneumatic fitting a couple turns out from all the way tight, press the Bowden tube all the way down inside the hotend, then tighten the fitting so it seals and locks the Bowden tube in place. Also, you have to make sure the cut end in the hotend is cut perfectly square for it to seal properly; usually the kit will come with at least one end of the tube cut square for you.

This cross-section above should help you visualize the seal you're trying to make; you're looking at the covalent area between the PTFE tube and the metal throat of the hotend.



mnem
 

[mnementh]

Oh, and lastly... if that's the filament that came with the thing, try known-good filament you bought yourself. The "freebie" filament is usually worth EXACTLY what you paid for it. 

mnem
*puttin' on my flame-proof jammies for when bean and Monkeh come along to correct my 50% noob suggestions*

[beanflying]

Just had a closer look at this photo and blew it up a bit. You either don't have any or sufficient retraction looking at the loops between the lower towers.

What Slicer are you using?

[HobGoblyn]

I used Cura.

But all I did was select my printer and slice it. I didn’t alter anything

[beanflying]

The whisps of plastic between the lower towers would be characteristic of a lack of retraction or possibly some oozing due to a high temperature for the filament in use.

I don't use Cura but have a hunt around in the Advanced Printer settings and make sure you have 2-3mm of retraction set. Also assuming the temperature is somewhere close I run 205 for the first layer then 200C for PLA from there on up so if you have 220C for example reduce it.

So process of elimination start at the ground floor then work your way up 

[HobGoblyn]

I picked Cura at random. 

What program do you guys use?

[beanflying]

Initially I went with what was then sli3er https://slic3r.org/ and then more recently to PrusaSlicer (derived from sli3er) https://www.prusa3d.com/prusaslicer/ I am still running 2.1 but I see 2.2 is now out so I should upgrade it and see what is new.

I did re install Cura for another look fairly recently but wasn't overwhelmed or see anything I needed from it so I stuck with Prusa which is being very actively developed. No right or wrong with any of them there is a few others worth a look but 

[tom66]

I find PrusaSlicer to work very well.  But  you will have to create your own print profile as it only ships with native support for the Prusa printers.  No difficulty in doing that but be prepared to make many test prints.

[tom66]

Yay, it's fully assembled.

First two attempts at bed levelling  didn't go so good.  But on my third it was almost perfect (in my eyes) see attached pic.

Bottom left (where the home position is) isn't perfect, , but the bed adjuster there feels very loose when the bed is level.   I think I'll look into stronger springs.

Now for a few tests

My experience with manual bed levelling is you don't want to go anywhere near "loose" on the adjusters because the vibration from the printer will shake them even further loose, which will cause the level to shift over time. If you find any are loose you want to try adjusting your Z-offset in software or moving your Z-limit switch/probe instead.

[beanflying]

It is fairly easy to add other printers. For what it is worth my Ender Pro Config is in the Zip for Prusaslicer even coming from sli3er I just exported my config and imported into Prusa.

[HobGoblyn]

Yay, it's fully assembled.

First two attempts at bed levelling  didn't go so good.  But on my third it was almost perfect (in my eyes) see attached pic.

Bottom left (where the home position is) isn't perfect, , but the bed adjuster there feels very loose when the bed is level.   I think I'll look into stronger springs.

Now for a few tests

My experience with manual bed levelling is you don't want to go anywhere near "loose" on the adjusters because the vibration from the printer will shake them even further loose, which will cause the level to shift over time. If you find any are loose you want to try adjusting your Z-offset in software or moving your Z-limit switch/probe instead.

Thanks.  I’ll have to cut the tab on the bottom of the switch bracket to move it down a couple of mm.

Got new springs arriving tomorrow,  but obviously want to print today.  I’ll have a play.

[HobGoblyn]

I’ll try the PrusaSlicer.

[mnementh]

The whisps of plastic between the lower towers would be characteristic of a lack of retraction or possibly some oozing due to a high temperature for the filament in use.

I don't use Cura but have a hunt around in the Advanced Printer settings and make sure you have 2-3mm of retraction set. Also assuming the temperature is somewhere close I run 205 for the first layer then 200C for PLA from there on up so if you have 220C for example reduce it.

So process of elimination start at the ground floor then work your way up 

The default E3 profile in Cura runs PLA at 200°/200° with bed at 50° and it has a  roughly calibrated retraction profile for both normal print and for bridging modes that works well out of the box; it's better than the profile made for my Diggro.  For JUST BEGINNING, I recommend Cura as it has the most community support for E3.

Recent versions of Cura have streamlined the options dropdown a bit; you'll have to go into Settings/Configure Settings Visibility to toggle Bridging Mode settings on; you want this for this test print.

Again, I also recommend printing a temp tower first, if you've eliminated all the first-build gotchas I outlined in my first post. If the Bowden tube isn't sealed/locked down properly, it will totally screw up the retraction; this attracts the flying spaghetti monster like 5-year-olds to cake & ice cream.

Like bean said... start from the ground up; but I certainly wouldn't go switching horses in mid-stream with a new slicer when Cura is the E3 community favorite hands down (for beginners) with proven good results from the default E3 profile.

As far as the bed leveling; you want to start out with ~3-4mm of thread showing under the nuts, as close to equal height as possible by eye is plenty close enough. Set your Z-stop so the switch clicks closed just as it contacts the bed. Tighten all 4 wheel-nuts 2 turns (CCW), then start a 5-point bed leveling like this one:




I use a 3M Post-It for bed leveling; get the good ones that are a little thicker (thick enough you can't see through them, notebook paper is too thin) along with his gcode for the 5-point leveling. Fold the sticky part of the post-it over itself; this keeps it from fouling anything, and it gives you a good handle. Use the main body of the Post-It under the nozzle, not the folded-over part.

First I do the leveling cold, then a second round where I heat up the bed and nozzle to operating temp. Just like he does with his sticker, you adjust the level up so you can feel drag on the paper, but just loose enough that you can still PUSH the paper towards the nozzle without it buckling. If it buckles, you're too tight.

Recently, as I've gotten used to my printer (annoyingly, it turns the hotend/bed off during the leveling routine), I've found that leveling it cold, then loosen (this "tightens" the gap) 1/4 turn on all 4 bed wheels gets it pretty close to dead-nuts every time. Run Chuck's spiral print pattern for fine-tuning and you'll be golden.

mnem

[HobGoblyn]

Oddly enough, I found and followed that exact youtube vid on levelling earlier

The squares printed perfectly after levelling.

I did check everything before giving it another go. 

This time I tried one of the Temp Towers you linked to yesterday, using their gcode. I've just finished printing it. To me I think it's come out extremely well  (this is the first thing I've printed since my disaster yesterday), I obviously screwed up with Cura yesterday (used default, didn't turn on bridging etc).

Here's a few pics

Many many thanks everyone

[Mr. Scram]

It's always a bit hard judging things from a picture, but it looks like your printer does great on lower temperatures with this filament.

[mnementh]

Looks like 185-190 is your sweet spot with this filament. 

Try a bridging test to see how well your extrusion and layer cooling are cooperating: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:476845/files

This is the one I've been using to torture my printer and annoy my son (finished print makes a great indoor-safe projectile): https://cdn.thingiverse.com/assets/52/08/6f/5d/08/Bridging_Test_50.stl

mnem
 

[mnementh]

I think maybe they've hit their stretch goals. 

Really surprised people didn't just swarm the $339 bracket; If I hadn't gotten in where I did, I'd damn sure pay an extra $20 to NOT be in the "I get to wait an extra month on top of the already 3 months wait" bracket. 

mnem
I wonder if that 20-pack comes with free Egg Roll...?

[HobGoblyn]

Looks like 185-190 is your sweet spot with this filament. 

Try a bridging test to see how well your extrusion and layer cooling are cooperating: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:476845/files

This is the one I've been using to torture my printer and annoy my son (finished print makes a great indoor-safe projectile): https://cdn.thingiverse.com/assets/52/08/6f/5d/08/Bridging_Test_50.stl

mnem
 

Thanks, but against your earlier advice, I used the filament that came with it (my reasoning was to get something that at least stayed in place etc before using stuff I bought)

So today I repeated the test with my bought filament, I also did the other temp test while I was at it. 

Pics below.

Next I'm going to try your bridging test (as soon as I've finished watching a few YouTube on slicing)

[mnementh]

Good plan. I was suggesting you try known-good filament at least as a test, to eliminate the filament as the vector for your curly-hair infection.  "Quality will vary" is le mot du jour with "free" filament.

My experience is that almost ANY PLA filament can be made to print successfully, as long as it isn't so brittle it breaks as it unrolls. It's just a matter of how much of the roll you use up before you find the correct settings, and how much of your own time are you willing to spend figuring it out.

mnem