Major curling and quality issues

[Jakx12321]

Hello everyone,

I've owned this printer since October of last year and haven't gotten ~3 successful prints out of it. They were miracles honestly.

I was getting major artifacts before and I finally fixed that with a bump in temperature, but now I'm getting curling like no other. It ruins the prints by either coming out curled and distorted, or the print comes unstuck and fails from there.

Here's an image as an example. http://imgur.com/Yt2veTT As you can see no artifacts and the print actually looks decent (ignore the fact that it's been snapped, it was a strength test), but the curling ruins the print. I've put a blanket around the printer to try to hold the heat in, and it seems to have helped somewhat. But still getting this curling.

I cannot express how discouraged I am with this printer, it has been issue after issue after issue since day 1 with it, and I'd like to start doing some printing without major hassle.

My settings:
Black seemecnc abs filament
Hotend: 230c
Bed: 100c
First layer speed: 10m/s

I'm using hair spray, as glue sticks didn't work for me at all.

Any thoughts? I let the bed heat up for quite a while before attempting a print. I'm not sure where to go from here.

Thanks so much,
Dustin

[mhackney]

I'd say that hair spray isn't working for you at all either. You need to focus on getting a good first layer to stick and be near flawless. Read the guides in my signature, they've literally helped 100s of people go from where you are not to getting great results.

[geneb]

...and the content of the first link is also in the User Guide.

g.

[miglo]

ABS slurry was what worked for me unless you install a PEI layer on the glass.

PEI works wonders with ABS.

[mhackney]

The "right" hair spray is important too. I always had good luck with Garner Fructose Style Extreme Control in the green can. Many hairsprays will not work, this one does.

[mhackney]

...and the content of the first link is also in the User Guide.

g.

Did I grant permission for that Gene or do I need to take legal action?































(just kidding everyone, I granted permission.)

[Jakx12321]

Thanks everyone for the knowledgeable replies! I've attempted a different strategy in applying the hairspray, testing currently.
The hairspray I'm using is aqua net extra super hold, I was told it was very good stuff and works well for others.

As for PEI, I've looked into it in the past and it seemed absurdly expensive, is there a good place to get it that supplies the correct size for the romax for a decent price? Perhaps I was looking in the wrong place.

I'm going over the link you supplied and I'm running some calibration prints (cubes, hollow triangles, steps, etc..) to try and get everything right.

I do appreciate it everyone, I will update if I see success!

Thanks,
Dustin

[mhackney]

Look at my long thread on PEI, it has the best sources listed. Amazon and McMaster Carr in the US. $17.26 from amazon is not expensive, the tape will run you another $10 or so. So $30 and a little work to have a PEI bed. Not sure what you were looking at that was absurdly expensive.

[Jakx12321]

I will definitely check it out!

Wow, yeah that's not bad, I'm not sure what I was looking at but it was significantly more expensive than that. Thanks for the link and the recommendation, the new technique for hair spray didn't work..

Thanks again,
Dustin

[3D-Print]

PEI rocks and I have used this from the start. 1600 hours of printing and the last of my worries with PEI is "will it stick to the print bed!"

[Jakx12321]

So I got the pei sheet and attached it and all is well with that. However... the ABS won't stick.. What am I doing wrong? Did I miss a step? I'm not sure what's going on with it. The filament just bunches up and sticks to the nozzle and never sticks.

I re-calibrated my z height and made sure the x and y height were correct as well. Not sure what the issue is..

[Xenocrates]

I'm fairly certain you removed the protective film, but that may be an issue (it has been stealthy in the past) Give it a light sanding with a high grit paper (150+) and then wipe it down with isopropyl alcohol. After that, try to avoid touching it directly.

[Jakx12321]

Lol yes, it is removed and it was quite stealthy.. luckily the tape that was recommended didn't stick well to that plastic film.. I will give it a light sanding and see how she does. I assume you meant 1500+? As 150 is extremely rough.

[Xenocrates]

For most woodworking/painting applications, (and what you can usually find at home depot) 150 is fairly fine. I pulled burrs off the edges of mine with 150, then did the finishing with 2K, which happened to be the finest we had. You want the surface to lose some amount of shine, but you don't want to be able to feel the ridges, or take off too much material.

What exactly is it that you do where 150 grit sandpaper is extremely rough though? Do you make mirrors?

[Jakx12321]

I hit it heavily with 2k and it stuck beautifully! Only one print so far but it's working, so I'm happy. Must have been some excess oil from my hands on there the first time through.

Lower the number the more coarse it is right? Just figured it was relatively course. 2k did the job though, and I have some 600 if it doesn't end up working so well.

Appreciate the insight on that, I finally got it stuck and went to print and I was like "What?! This is worse than before!" so I knew I had missed something lol.. so thanks!

[bot]

Yup you need to hit it with 1500 every once in a while.

[Xenocrates]

Lower is indeed more coarse. I've got a pretty good variety. 35 is like beach sand (the coarse, broken shell kind) glued to paper. 150 is like the sand in most hourglasses (relatively fine). The pack of 2k i've got says mirror grade. For most applications, 150 is considered fine (some consider it the edge of very fine). For PEI, it's on the coarse side of what you want.

[mhackney]

I use 600 grit with a little water to sand mine, then rinse with isopropyl alcohol.