Hello,
I have a problem. After 2 or 3 hours of printing my part starts to warp on the corners and comes off the raft (raft itself is fine), part is just 4 by 3 inches. I tried 0 fan but still no luck. And I need at least medium infill. i use PCABS cause I’m making a mold. Any ideas how to fix?
Hi,
I used to have the same issue with prints with large flat bottom surface.
In my opinion the fact is due to the weight distribution of the print, so I solved it modifying the model and adding a sort of structural frame at the bottom (just extract the edge borders of the bottom face of your model, offset them by 2mm and then extrude a little bit), in order to let the model lean on the frame and not on the middle point of the bottom face.
In this way, the model is phisically constrained to lean on the edge of the bottom surface, and this prevents it from warping and detaching from the raft.
Moreover, from the structural point of view, you are increasing the stiffness of the whole print.
P.S.
I assume that the bottom surface is not part of the mold surface, so it should not be a problem for you to change it a little bit.
Have you ever cleaned the platform? The manual says you should clean it from time to time. Release the screws of the heat bed, and push all the leftover plastik parts out of the little holes of the perforated platform and maybe clean the surface with aceton.
The only options you have to overcome warping are:
-use side covers
-use abs juice to stick raft to bed
-turn fan completely off
-choose a less dense infill
-choose a material with less intrinsic warping, like z-ultrat or even better z-hips
-make sure room temperature does not go below 21C
-make sure that there is no air draft
Tomy
5
Same thing happened to me on a 10 x12 cm print (4x5 inches) even though I was using ZHIPS which supposedly should NOT warp. NOT sure how to solve this either.
Yes, I cleaned a platform and as I said raft itself is fine, it is fully attached to the printing bed, but part comes off the raft (not raft from the printing bed)
I use side covers, fan set 0 (but still rotates)
Can’t use ABD juice because part comes off the raft, not a printing bed.
Temp is above 20 degrees (I even turned my air conditioner off)
Let me show what is going on on the attached photo
Hello,
Thank you. I will try your method
Tomy
8
When you say offset the bottom edge by 2mm , do you mean inward or outward before extruding?
Inward, then extrude only the border with thickness 2mm (basically you are creating a stand for your print).
If the lower face is large, maybe it’s better to create more structures inside.
I have uploaded a picture for your better understanding.
Hope now it’s clear.
Tomy
10
Thank you I will try it today!
Enza3D
11
Hi there!
What are your speeds, temps, walls, etc.? (Sorry if you answered this already elsewhere here!) I’ve found with large parts, I get the best results with high infill, at least 3 perimeter shells (4-5 works the best for me) and putting “mouse ears” in the corners (I’ll talk about this more towards the end of this post).
First, I’d suggest checking the heat distribution on your build plate with some type of thermal gun or infrared thermometer. They’re pretty inexpensive, you can get a basic one at Home Depot for $20. This is an investment that is very worth it with 3D printing; just because your software says the nozzle is at 230°C it may be at 215°C or 250°C. You have no way of knowing without being able to verify it for yourself. In regards to the build plate itself, you probably have spots that are hotter or cooler than other spots, which will definitely not help your curling issue. If you’re more technically inclined you can address this by adding better heating coils or changing the plate material to allow for more even distribution, but even just knowing where you have problems will help with how you orient parts.
I’d also suggest letting your build plate heat up a good half hour to hour before beginning the print. This allows the printing chamber to get nice and toasty before ABS ever leaves the nozzle.
Using mouse ears has made a huge difference in the quality of the parts; I’ve even been able to print a couple of large ABS parts without a raft by using them. A “mouse ear” (or helper disk) is just a large relatively flat circle that gets printed in each corner of the part that helps to anchor them to the build plate. You can see an example of them here, Harness Strain Relief for NEMA Stepper with mouse ears by smorgo - Thingiverse and google “ABS mouse ears” for some good articles about why/how to do it. When I use them, I just snap them off the part after printing, then clean up the corners with sandpaper and an exacto knife. If this doesn’t help you can also try a brim instead of a raft.
Just curious, you said you’re using PCABS, but your picture shows red filament. Are you using 3rd party filament? If so that might explain your lifting issue.
when i did make this photo I had ABS. But i have the same problem with PCABS
Thanks! I will def try mouse ears next time. with my print i have added some holes close to border and now it looks okay
Tomy
15
Hi, could you possibly share a Photo of the print with the holes?
