I printed two calibration cubes successfully straight out. Played with some settings then tweaked things, printed another and it failed halfway through, but it was far better quality than the others so I stayed with those slicer settings and made sure the hot end height/level was spot on.
Since then I've had a few prints screw up on the first layer or two, so I'd stop, relevel, make sure the end was clean (yj) and start again. Otherwise nothing else has failed after the first few layers have gone down nicely.
No spaghetti incidents thankfully, seen plenty of photos of those! I've had some corner warping which usually means poor adhesion to the bed/surface, that should be easily sorted.
I am pretty surprised how well they're coming out after seeing the disastrous attempts on the Facebook groups.
The cheap masking tape did a rubbish job of staying stuck to the bed and being a good surface to print on.
I have now got some blue masking tape which a lot of people recommend, and so far my prints are so much better. Adhered to the bed nice and flat, no peeling.
Pretty much. You get the spaghetti if the print moves (that should be in the centre of the bed) because it hasn't adhered properly, and then the head is printing into thin air, rather than adding the next layers to what it had already printed.
Put the tape down, check there's no bubbles, do some levelling to make sure the printer knows how low it should go and where to start the first print. Too high and the plastic won't stick, too low and the head will drag along the bed. We're talking 0.1 mm differences. The recommended way is to fold a piece of paper then use that as the thickness between head and bed. When you feel a little drag, but can still move it, you've got the correct height.
I bought myself a Flashforge Creator Pro last week: a Christmas return to Technology Outlet reduced to £600. I've been too busy to set it up till now and I had a few hours fiddling to get the print to stick but it looks like its printing its first test block OK now.
I've tried to upload a piccie, but uploading seems a bit borked atm.
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
No idea how that thing is controlled, and I can't compare this to any other options, but OctoPi/Print seems like such a great solution for controlling and managing 3D printers.
It uses the Cura slicer. You upload you Cura slicing profile. Then you can just drag and drop stls to print. So simple.
It's dual extruder and I've got PLA in one and ABS in the other, but I hear such grim reports about ABS that I'm sticking with PLA until I feel more confident.
I've had adhesion issues (it's my age, John) and I've ordered a borosilicate glass plate for my bed. When that arrives (from Hong Kong!) I might have a stab at ABS. How about you?
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
I'm currently still on the 500g roll of PLA (white, as per the pictures) that came with the printer. I have two rolls of ABS (black and clear) waiting to be tried, but I've not yet felt the need, or had the patience, to try it since I've heard plenty of similar grim stories of ABS difficulties. I've also got a roll of purple PLA on the way, since I felt the need for some colour!
It seems cheap ABS is easier to get hold of than cheap PLA. My tight-arse tendencies might push me towards ABS if I'm eventually successful with it.
I've read about specific glass types (borosilicate being the favoured), but I have just bought a cheap 90p photo frame from Wilko for the glass. That was to try if the blue tape didn't work. I might end up trying the glass for ABS, but I'm not going to be surprised if it cracks very quickly!
Dual extruder is definitely a nice option. I'm guessing if you want you can do two different colours of filament within the same print if it's all setup nicely? Also, give the blue tape a go if you're having adhesion issues. It felt like magic compared to the rubbish masking tape I was originally using.
Yes, you can run two PLA filaments & print two-tone, which will be fun in the fullness of time. I'm sure you'll be fine with picture glass, but if the heat does eventually get to it, search ebay for Boro - you can get it much cheaper from China than from within the UK.
I bought a can of supermarket own-brand 'firm hold' hairspray and that seems to be helping considerably. It's not perfect - I've still got issues with edges curling up - but it's a lot better. Currently printing this Iris Box
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
Our meth is is sold in government stores. You have to be 4 or older to buy it. A lot of our unemployed are reselling to 3 year olds. It's a national disgrace.
“Selfie drone company shuts down despite $34m pre-orders” – news story
