3D Printing - A useful thread

[Crusoe]

22 hours ago, rwillett said:

There are a couple of things that you need to get right every time. 

 

1. Bed levelling. This gives you the foundations of the print. Get this wrong anf your print won't stay put and you're wasting your time. I used a sheet of 80g paper. Not a business card or a thing too thick. The nozzle should just catch on the paper. Not jam the paper, just catch it. also this needs to be across the whole bed or at least the area you are printing. 

 

2. First temp layer. Do a temperature tower. Download a temperature tower for PLA and print it to work out the correct temp. I assume you use PLA as your first filament as that's easiest. Ignore PETG and other filaments for the moment. 

 

3. Clean the bed with isopropyl alcohol. Is the neo a magnetic mat? Or a glass bed? 

 

If these don't work post pics of what the output looks like. 

 

Rob

Cheers. I managed to get the bed level (it's glass - carborundum I think the spec calls it) and when I got the z-axis offset correct, it printed well.

[rwillett]

13 hours ago, itu said:

Some years ago when I dove into metal AM (additive manufacturing), went to an international meeting. This is short, but full of interesting details.

 

control-approach-chemical-safety-of-3d-printing-at-workplaces.pdf 344.43 kB · 2 downloads

 

Thanks for this. The nano particles made me think. I may invest in an enclosure and extractor. Not 100% certain what I would extract to though....

[rwillett]

1 hour ago, Crusoe said:

Cheers. I managed to get the bed level (it's glass - carborundum I think the spec calls it) and when I got the z-axis offset correct, it printed well.

It's worth checking the brass nozzle every week or so for tightness. As it heats and cools it can come loose. This is more of a problem with different metal Nozzles but still happens with brass. 

 

I use a square that I print to adjust the z offset. It's on the SD card I leave in the Prusa. It prints a 100mmx100mm square, one layer thick. Really allows you to get the z offset spot on. I'm away until the new year but will dig out the details when I'm back. The z axis offset is key as you've found out. 

 

Rob 

[Dad3353]

In my early days of 3d printing, I had issues with either items slipping, or becoming so stuck as to impossible to remove at end of print. I tried several remedies, including glass or mirror bed, hair lacquer and more, but the problems were solved by the use of this magnetic bed mat. I have had no issues at all since using this mat, so I recommend it heartily. Inexpensive, I clip mine to the moving bed with tiny bulldog clips. If you get slippage or adherence issues, it might be worth a try..? ...

 

Amazon : Magnetic 3d Printing bed mat...

 

[rwillett]

This magnetic mat is similar to the mag mat on some of the Ender 3s. It works really well on PLA but I found PETG stuck so well it ripped. The magnetic steel satin ones from Prusa get around this but at a cost. I went through 7-8 mats before I moved to the Prusa. 

 

I would recommend everybody start with PLA and get used to that before moving to anything else. 

 

Keep it simple. 

 

Rob