I am trying to calibrate my new printer (wanhao clone) but it doesn’t seem to be working. I have tried levelling the bed with both a business card and printer paper but it doesn’t seem to be working. I am not entirely sure if the bed is level because the screws are horrendous so in order to turn them I have to compress the springs a bit.
Essentially the PLA doesn’t seem to be sticking or something. I am printing onto a print mat that came with the printer, bed at 60, extruder at 200. At first nothing seems to be coming out of the printer but then it does and it curls up and congeals on the nozzle.
I am going to guess that the nozzle distance from the bed may be off a bit. Here are some ideas.
Clean the bed with isopropyl alcohol. It could be greasy or use acetone with caution and always on a cold bed.
Increase the bed temp to 65 and maybe 70 just for the first layer then turn back down. I’d stick with 65 max.
Increase the extruder temp to 210 or 215 for the first layer and then back down.
Slow down the first layer speed.
What slicer?
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I will go out and buy some to give that a go. But until then I will also try those other suggestions to how it turns out.
I currently have the first layer to be printed at 50% the regular speed which is set to 60mm/s
Simplify 3D
Alright so I gave all of those suggestions (except the alcohol one) a go (though I did wipe it down with one of those fingerprint cloths if that does anything). It worked much better, started printing earlier and everything still not right from the beginning, may add a skirt for that, but I am just printing a bed levelling thingy at the moment. It seemed to be a lot stringier though and that seemed to catch the other filament and caused clumping but overall much better.
Ok, S3D ggod choice and that will help!
Drop your overall speed to about 35mm/sec 2000mm/min. Slowing down is always a good thing to help get things lined out.
Main thing on the platform is getting contaminants off of it. You will be surprised what a fingerprint can do!
Did you find a good profile to use in S3D? Was there one recommended? That can make a difference also for odd issues.
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Is that base speed or first layer? I may just give dropping the base speed to that a go anyway. Can’t hurt.
I had no idea that was such a big thing. I will buy some isopropyl alcohol tomorrow.
Sorry, I am very new to this, what kind of profiles? I have never seen the option?
I just did another print which was another decent improvement. I will attach a photo this time if that helps identify what might be the issue.
Also, I am attempting to print this: Bed Leveling Calibration Test Object (Parametric) by pgreenland - Thingiverse
Yea, base speed and the first layer one will follow since it is set as a % of the base speed.
No problem being new!! We all started somewhere and I feel like I still know so little.
When you set up S3D it asked for you to pick a printer. We just want to make sure a good one is selected since that dictates some settings that can trow things off.
From the pic I am going to say the nozzle may be a little far from the bed. I might go find a 20X20X10 calibration cube on thing to use to get set up with. Although the one you have is good for getting the bed leveling better and seeing how changes affect things.
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Okay so I have slowed the speed down to about half of what it was and I lowered the z-axis by -0.01 in the g-code offset section. Once more, huge improvement but still seeing some issues, like the corners of the squares. Will print a cube next.
I remember that option but I only recall it offering me a choose between Cartesian and delta nothing specific. I may be wrong. I’ll go through the setup process again.
May still be high and or under extruding. What is the brand and model of the printer? I would google to see what settings for S3D.
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I lowered it another 0.1mm. It is a balco which is essentially a Wanhao i3 clone.
This time I printed a cube. Wasn’t sure what infill to use for the test so I went with 0 which pretty much made the top a huge mess but that is reasonable I assume. I am very happy with the way the other sides turned out but the bottom still looks bad to me. It still has that crosshatch effect and seems to be detached from the other sides. Easily broken off.
OK, you are still not getting it, so let me help.
First, you need to be very aggressive about how close that nozzle is to the bed. You want your first layer to get A LOT of squish. When I remove my prints, they are smooth like glass on the bottom. No hatching can be seen. I print on glass, but the point is that your first layer is your adhesion layer, so you want to be really, really aggresive.
When tightening your bed to your nozzle, using copy paper, you want the paper to ALMOST NOT MOVE. You want it to move the least amount possible. Basically, if it moves, but is really hard to move, that is what you want.
Another thing you can do is print your first layer at 110% infill or something like that. (Dont know what software you have). The key is that the first layer needs to have strong SQUISH. (BTW, Simplify3d defaults to 90% on first layer, I always change that)
In the long term you want to get a glass build plate. Spray it with Aquanet super hold. Preheat until it becomes smooth and invisible. It self levels. Your parts will stick, and you can then print less of a first layer.
For now, you want your first layers to have a little crinkle, or overextrusion of it.
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PS stick with it. (pun intended). You are almost there. Once you get the bed leveling down, it becomes second nature, and you are off to a wonderful 3d printing experience!
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I had no idea that it had to be so close. I made it much closer this time and got much better results. I am now looking for that setting you say is at 90% by default. I can’t seem to find it.
I am still having the same problem though so I will further lower the nozzle into the bed. I noticed another problem this time though, I added infill so the top layer actually printed properly but it looks similar to the bottom layer, with that crosshatch effect.
I had no idea that it had to be so close. I made it much closer this time and got much better results. I am now looking for that setting you say is at 90% by default. I can’t seem to find it.
I am still having the same problem though so I will further lower the nozzle into the bed. I noticed another problem this time though, I added infill so the top layer actually printed properly but it looks similar to the bottom layer, with that crosshatch effect.
I lowered to even more and increased the extrusion multiplier it seemed slightly better but it also left a divit in the corner (not pictured) which I think may be from the extruder being too close now?
Glad it is working. How about giving me some additional info.
1. How big is the cube?
2. What slicing software are you using? I only know Simplify3d.
3. When you say crosshatch effect, are you referring to the fact you can see the top layer, and through the top layer to the previous layer?
4. Let me have some other settings: Infill%, Speed, Extrusion Multiplier.
5. This is PLA correct?
Finally, have a look here: Print Quality Guide | Simplify3D Software
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1. 10x10mm
2. Simplify3d
3. Yeah, not sure what to call it. Just that it doesn’t look flat I can see the lines very distinctly
4. 25% 60mm/s default 50% of that for the first layer 0.96
4.5. I am printing the first layer at 205 degrees onto a 65 degree heated bed and subsequent layers are at 200 and 60
5. Yes
Ok. First layer percentage is on the right under the layer tab–> first layer height.
As for cross hatching, you just need to mess with your settings. Probably start with a combination of extrusion multiplier under extrusion tab, and outline overlap under the layer tab (I put mine at a whopping 40%).
You will not get a perfectly smooth layer on your top, of course. But look at the examples on s3d troubleshooting and see how those appear in relationship to yours.
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Thanks for all your help. I managed to get much better results that I am now quite happy with. I had to up my extrusion multiplier to 1 and set my outline overlap to 30% though I may increase this further. I also had a big problem with the extruder melting the plastic of the part when it was done (as it just stayed in that spot when finished) so I had to add some gcode to scripts that raises it up when it is finished. This leaves a string at the end but that is easily removable.
So thank you both for all your help.
OK, its all about getting better prints now.
Search s3d forums. Read the s3d site. experiment!
Measure your filament with digital calipers, for each roll. Mark the roll. enter that to s3d for that roll.
I use sainsmart PLA. its extrusion width is always very close.
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The first bit not coming out is normal.
Its because of the oozing while heating up the nozzle that empties the first part of the filament path.
The curling up surely is because of the nozzle being to far away from the build plate.
Check 4 corners with the print paper, but also check the middle where you probably are printing.
If the middle is still way off, something is bend.
Might be your X carriage, might be the bed, hard to tell.
Try printing on glass, this way you know atleast the bed is perfectly flat.
Try priting a large rectangle about the size of the bed. and make the print slowly.
While it is printing and passing a certain corner of the bed, twist the bed upwards until it no longer curls but sticks.
