I’m new to this and my son got several prints to work but I can’t get any print to work. It’s gets about 1-5% then it breaks or pulls up the print. We have auto leveled, changed filament, tightened bed screws and nothing.
You will probably have to adjust the z-offset to be a little closer to the bed. Which printer is it?
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It is the SE. We got 2 things to print but now it won’t stick again.
I had the same problem with my KE. I thought it was because the filament was too wet, so I bought a filament dryer. The prints still lifted. I wiped the bed, tried glue, etc., all of the usual suspects. What I did after that was to wash the print bed with dish soap and hot water. Haven’t had a print lift in 2 weeks.
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Clean bed sticks best.
In case you start to use ABS or ASA get a PVP-VA based glue.
Purchase a dedicated one. otherwise the easiest/fastest to get is Schwarzkopf/Taft Hairlacquer PURE.
Yes, check the PURE label. The others have additives or a different formula.
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….some filaments will stick to the bed at room temperature - like TPU.
But ABS,ASA and especially PC or PC-CF will definitely not stick to the bed at room temperature.
Whatsmore, the bigger the print, the worse it will stick to the bed - as it warps while printing, and later on the nozzle will knock it off the bed.
Check the nozzle/bed temperatures. Low nozzle/bed temperatures will lead to the filament being too cold to stick to anything. Also, model fan cooling should be at the minimum speed , so let’’s say i use 4% for ABS, ASA, PC etc. I go with 30~50% for TPU 85A/95A.
(i modified the printer head by adding a printed cover for the model fans, so that they can’t pull in that much of air, in fact, they suck in the hot air coming from the bed, so the model get’s “cooled“ by the air coming from the bed - is significantly hotter than the enclosure air )
Solutions i found for myself:
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glue (PC or PC-CF will still unstick itself from the bed, or it will actually warp the bed plate with it)
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chamber/enclosure
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heater (600W to reach 50°C, 300W will be good to reach 30~35°C but will take some time to reach that temperature)
Problems i encountered with the enclosure:
- high temperature leads to melting of the hot glue that is on some connectors inside the printer, as well in the printing head. The hot glue from the printing head did get liquid and dropped on the print while printing - the actual temperature inside was 45~50°C. Now all of that hot glue is gone, so that is no longer a problem for me.
- high temperature doesn’t allow the power supply not the nozzle to be cooled very well, therefore i never raised the temperature more than to 50°C, i usually limit it to 45°C.
- need a light source, but any light source added works perfectly, as the inside of the enclosure reflects the light extremely well - as seen on the picture
- when opening the encolure, some of the heat would escape, so i could not print right after i opened it
- PC, PC-CF, PA12-CF and few more filaments will require way higher temperature of the encolure than just 50°C , more like 60°C onwards, and the encolure i have and i posted picture of, is not good enough for such temperatures, nor will the printer survive such temperatures (can print small models with mentioned filaments, but nothing bigger than 15 maybe 20mm in size)
Benefits :
- no more problems with printing ABS or ASA
- the enclosure does limit the fumes a little
- it dries the filament a bit, and keeps it dry while printing
- no need for glue with ABS or ASA, these filaments stay on the bed, from 40°C onwards they stick to the bed so well, i would have to take out the bed to cool it down, else i can’t remove the printed models, once cold, the bed plate releases the prints almost automatically
- very good print quality, the layers stick to each other so very well, that if i try to breake the printed model, it seldom breaks where the layers are, instead it breaks across layers or at the thinnest spot
Was it a mistake to buy a printer which has no enclosure (also without heating)?
Yes.
the enclosure costs around 40Eur, and on the first pic it’s actually my own printer inside of it, i added heaters with a thermostat later on.
However, the bed alone can heat up the encolure to about 30°C - but it takes VERY long time to achieve that, and within that time, the bed needs to stay at 100°C the whole time,
Glue for the bed, no need to be precise with it, bed can be 100°C, it then dries quicker, nozzle doesn’t care if the glue is in some spots thicker than in others. Washable with water.
lower the value of your Z axis offset
I have to agree the second I have a lift off I wash with dawn power wash and rinse with water and dry and do not touch the print surface and this 99% of the time is my problem hope it’s as easy as that for your problem