Supporting > Additive Machining

3D printer questions

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GordonL:
I just bought a Monoprice 15365 Mini printer and I am running in to a few basic questions.

I am having a problem with the first layer not sticking to the bed and results in a spider web of plastic which gets tangled in later layers. The printer starts by doing a perimeter loop and then starts the base part layer. The original loop is what is getting the head tangled. I am using PLA plastic and running 195° head temp and 60° bed temp. I am not sure whether I should make something hotter, cooler, faster, slower.

One Monoprice specific question. The printer comes with a micro SD card so I bought another card. Ended up with a 32GB since the price is not much more for a 32 vs 8 GB. Contacted customer support and they said that the SD slot would not support more than 4 GB but the printer still does not work. I can load my gcode to the original SD card and it works OK but the other do not work. Any thoughts on the SD card?

I am having a slight problem when loading another filament. There seems to leave a slug of plastic in the head which must be pushed out so the first few inches is the old color. Also there is a problem with getting the new filament to feed into the head. To remove the original filament must be heated in order to get it out of the head.

Any advice and/or a forum where the basic questions have been answered.

Gordon

zeeprogrammer:
I'm fairly new to this as well and other people will have better and more thoughts. I don't know your printer but here's what I have...

1) Layer not sticking
Make sure the plate is clean of any oils.
Trying changing the plate's temperature (I don't know whether up or down).
On my plate, I laid down painter's blue masking tape. Then I vigorously wiped it with isopropyl alcohol.
There's different kinds of blue masking tape and it makes a different which one.
The amount of wiping also made a difference.
I ended up with trial and error.

2) SD card
I can't say. Sounds like the software in the printer doesn't support a larger memory?

3) Slug of plastic
Are you retracting the filament while hot? If you are, it may still leave a slug.
I don't know if dropping the temperature before retracting would help.
I get a lot of blockages on my system. I have to cut the filament, heat the extruder and pull out what I can, and then ream with a large needle, awl, or paper-clip.

4) Different color filament
Before starting the run, I will have the head up high and manually extrude a length of filament.
(I haven't changed colors yet but that should help clear out the old color.)
It also helps to verify the temperature by looking at the plastic as it comes out. Again, trial and error.

I haven't played with my printer for a while. All this talk (in other threads) is getting me interested again.

I hope this was of some help.

wagnmkr:
There is a lot of information and help here ...  http://www.soliforum.com/

My machine is still on it's way to me so no personal experience so far.

From the books and online tips I have read for the part not sticking down properly ... Hairspray ... something with heavy duty or high stick in the name. Apparently this is one of the best fixes. Spray it on, let dry, and print away. If the build plate is removable, spray it away from the machine to keep the sticky stuff out of the mechanisms.

The blue painters tape as Zee said. I read that Duck brand worked but others said no.

White pva glue, mixed with water is also supposed to work. Again, brush on, let dry, and print away.

Turn up the heat of the base slightly. Although it says that heat for pla is not required, some say it will help stick things down. What doesn't help much is that all filaments brands are/can be different ... each color can be different.

Not feeding properly ... some manufacturers do not have consistent filament diameters and some colors are different diameters that others. Use calipers to measure and check diameter.

Memory card ... on proprietary software there might be an app on the original card to format a new one. Perhaps the seller would know that.

This is what I have found in order to prepare myself for my machine arriving on Friday.

From what I can tell there is a large trial and error factor to these machines and that you get them working as they should, leave it alone. This seams to be a reason for some having more than one machine.

Also, it seems that some upgrades will be required to got optimum results.

I am starting a binder to keep all sorts of pertinent stuff in.

Tom

GordonL:
Thanks. At least this is new territory for many of us. When the printer was a $5000 item it was just not in the cards. Now with a $200 printer it can be attainable to more of us.

The sticking problem is mainly in the first few passes. Once it does the pass which seems to draw a perimeter around the piece which does not want to stick it starts laying down a grid and that sticks better as long as the original spider web of the perimeter does not get tangled up in it. I assume that the Cura software is adding this perimeter.

I have already replaced the original yellow masking tape which came on the printer with blue tape. I had not tried cleaning it.

I contacted Monoprice tech support and they did not have any good answers either. They are just selling something made elsewhere so they have not had a lot of experience either. I chatted with the tech for a few minutes about the SD card and he just said I will replace it. I said that I did not buy the card from them. He said he meant that he was going to replace the whole machine.

Hopefully I/we will learn something here. I do not expect the $200 printer to do what the $5000 machine will do.

Another problem is CAD software. I have been using 2D software for the last 20 years so I have to learn a 3D program. I have downloaded 123D by Autodesk. I have drawn a simple part and printed it. That worked OK. I can make a 15 minute sketch is 15 hours.

Gordon

wagnmkr:
Gordon, at least you have some CAD experience ... at the moment, I am having trouble with a straight line... even with a program.

I too am learning 123 and I am not at the point of getting anything drawn yet. That is not too important just yet as the first couple of projects for me are from Thingyverse. Their files are all ready to go ... just download them, slice them, and print them.

Adding your original question about stick the first line down ... another thing I have been told to do when I get the machine is make sure the bed is level, and make sure the head to plate distance is correct. The head being too far away can cause a lot of problem apparently.

For me, this is mainly a keep the brain active excersize, and maybe make something useful along the way.

Tom

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