Pushing my boundaries

#1
Generally have a lot of my problems fixed now. Its been a fun learning experience.

Right now I am working on the famed "geared heart with hand crank" from thingiverse. I am attempting to finish it up soon, with the intents of a wedding present. If I get real creative im going to make use of the dual extruder and if I can find some simple schematics of Ohio and Israel (their respective homes), make an off colored impression on one side each of the crank gear box.

Have a couple days left to work on it, found I had to print at a slightly higher temperature for the PLA I am printing with (glow in the dark red) from refill3d. Occasionally things are being pulled off the print surface (SO CLOSE to dat perfect print today), at one point I used super glue for a couple bases of some very small parts. Not recommended. Kindve a bitch to clean up, but acetone is my best friend anymore. Will make yet another hardware trip for some blue painters tape. Or would heating the print bed with a hair drier prior be a bit more efficient for the first layer?

Help thanks
 
#2
Blue tape works but it can be difficult to deal with. Have you tried
a) sanding the bed
b)backing off the z endstop screw JUST THE TINIEST AMOUNT so that the first layer is a tad more smushed against the bed?
c) What temp did you increase first layer to? My concern is that combining these techniques will make the print too difficult to remove...
 

GORDON.LAPLANTE

Administrator
Staff member
#3
Thanks for mentioning the glow in the dark red. I just bought it.

Some tips:

In slic3r set your first layer height to 0.28mm or something thicker. This will ensure lots of plastic is put down on the first layer. You can also manually turn both z-axis couplers during the first layer to raise or lower the extruder.

I have tried heating the bed with a heat fan before the print starts. It works well but if you do it too often the acrylic will soften and slightly warp over time.

Before printing (between every 20 prints or so) sand down the bed using the supplied sanding block. Make sure to wet it to stop dust from forming. When you're done wipe down the surface with a wet paper towel to get up all the acrylic dust.

Also, the higher temp you use for the 1st layer the better it sticks but if its too high its very hard to remove. Typically make the 1st layer about 10 degrees cooler than the other layers.