What did you 3D print today?

I think it was the banana shape of the bed that caused most of the issues
Some filaments seem to need that "just right" distance, while others are ok with a few .mm off either way
I used 1 mil Polyimade heat tape on the bed plate, and added more layers where I knew it was the worst (corners). Made a huge improvement on 1st layers with temperamental filaments.
And yes, a much lower temp than the box says is a must try.

 

Taking a break to let my head cool down...

Re-set my level, using a feeler gauge at .08mm. Seemed a little better, but still pulled off during the 6th layer (at least I got past the 3rd layer). Speed at 45mm/sec. Nozzle at 190*.

Typing this, I just realized that last night I had been using a nozzle temp of 200* with the home at .2mm. Not sure why I'm now back to 190*...I don't remember changing my slicer settings.

 

I wish something would stick long enough to get a good picture.

@Pixeltim sent me a 1st layer gCode file that he used. I'll try that with the new zero and temp suggestions (and going back to last night's nozzle temp, when things were working better) to see if that's better.

I must be learning a lot, because I sure have a lot of mistakes!

 

I went through a ton of spaghetti and thrashed parts before I started to associate symptoms with cures.

 

It really just sounds like your Z offset might be too high. A pic of whatever came out of the hotend still helps

 

I always use a sheet of printer paper.
Check this video out. It's a decent guide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpF_h8aOTAI&list=PLY3HgepBxazEAxzVDy44XHG82Ix4lx3dz&index=9&t=652s

Are you using a brass nozzle? The other things to check are your belt tensions and POM wheels. Make sure it's in tolerance.
What slicer are you using? I use the creality slicer and it seems to work better for me on my ender machines.

 

Well we found it! Besides my forgetting from last night to this morning that I had been using a nozzle temp of 190* and bed temp of 60* (which got me back to where I was last night), there was something still not adding up. After a couple of texts with @Pixeltim (whom I got the printer from), I commented that watching the print, it almost looked like the material was oozing onto the bed rather than printing onto the bed. Discussion was about leveling height. I dropped down to .08mm (using a feeler gauge) and tried his single layer test again. This time, parts of it stuck, but most still didn't look good. Enough stuck to the bed that I could get him a picture. He felt that the level was still too high...the print looked round yet. Made another adjustment and started another single layer print when I noticed that the display was showing Z-axis of .2mm! .2mm plus .08mm equals...?

Re-leveled at .02mm (the thinnest feeler gauge I have), and the next print looked just about normal...and it had great adhesion. I tried to prong the calibration cube and it worked perfect! More adjustments were made to reduce the stringing I was seeing. Now we're making progress.

On to the next learning experience. Thanks to everyone for the help and ideas. At one point, I commented to Tim that I was thinking too hard for being retired.

More testing for tomorrow.

 

Brass nozzle (new) and Creality Slicer. I may try another slicer down the road, but there are enough opportunities to learn as it is. We'll throw more into the mix later.

 

You said you got the printer second hand, right? I'm wondering if the hard coded z-offset is off? Are you adjusting just using knobs?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ender5plus/comments/hksam5/writeup_for_setting_the_zoffset_and_leveling/

 

My 5 Pro doesn't have that screen or the mesh.

 

The guy he got it from had the z-offset dialed in perfectly, as well as everything else. I’m guessing he’s just learning his new machine. I’m confident that he’ll eventually get it sorted out, even if he is just an old retired guy.

 

That's feeble-minded old retired guy!

 

I knew I was forgetting something…

 

I'm a huge fan of the ultimaker cura slicer. It has multiple ways to use it: easy mode with all but the most important menu options hidden, all the way up to advanced where you are toying with fan speeds and flow rates and support densities.

I almost immediately jumped to it from the creality software. Its more user friendly and has an easier learning curve.

 

At work we were having these louvers for our control boxes made from welded stainless sheet metal costing us about $225 each. By printing 4 of them we paid for our new Bambu X-1C printer (1-day ROI). We are using PETG-CF pretty successfully but there were a few growing pains.

 

Damn, my 13hr print for my switch panel finished but appears to have had some sort of cracking during cooling. I wonder if three days of continuous use was enough to get this spool of PETG a little less dry than it should be. Anyone have a good filament dryer suggestion, maybe one that can be used while the machine is using the spool too, I tend to use the same spool until it is gone.

 

While I haven't used it yet, I bought a single spool creality dryer that supposedl lets you set the timer, pre-dry, and keep drying as it's being used.

 

PETG is pretty stable and shouldn't become that unusable after a few days of it being unsealed. Got a pic?

 

I can take one when I get home, it cracked right between some layers, print finished decently though, didn't become a nest of garbage like some failed prints

 

I can only imagine how good it feels when a part falls down and hits you in the shin!