Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: Belgian on April 15, 2019, 07:08:49 PM
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Assembled my Enders 3 Printer this weekend and have done some prints but have stumbled upon some minor issues.
1) Residue from printing can't be removed from the printing bed (pla)?
2) How to clean your printing bed, to degrease. Read alcohol but which?
3) Hard to remove the finished prints from the printing bed, any tips?
4) First print layers don't adhere to the printing bed?
If you have experience with solving these issues,
I would love to hear from you!
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The simple answer to all these problems is to get a glass bed plate and some spray. There's 3D Lac which I use and is brilliant but apparently, you can use certain hairsprays instead. I could never be bothered to discover which hairsprays, I'm still on my first can of 3DL anyway.
1 Getting pla off your printing bed will require scraping.
2 Not sure why your bed is greasy
3 Brute force and the palette knife
4 This can be a filament issue or a temperature issue. Having a lack of adhesion in some cases but unremovable prints in others is baffling without further information on your settings.
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Thanks, looks like I need the spray and a glass plate. Regarding the grease, must be of my fingers when attempting to remove the prints on the printing bed. Was wondering the glass plate does it goes immediately on the heated bed or do you keep the original printing bed in between?
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It just goes on top, use a couple of bulldog clips to hold it in place. Make sure you use Borosilicate glass to avoid disasterous explosions from the rapid temperature changes :)
When the lacquer is warm it's sticky, when it cools it's not so prints just pop off (and have a glass smooth bottom too!).
The lacquer washes off with warm water ready for the next go.
I tend to have a couple of glass plates so I can print immediately by switching the plate while the first printing cools, actually I have 4 plates :-I
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Glad you took the plunge. :)
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I print on glass and it is great for PLA. If you get it all leveled the only thing you need is some glass cleaner, you dont need any of the slurries mentioned online. When i start getting adhesion problems its because the glass needs cleaning or its a mechanical issue. Just increase your bed temp by 5-10 degrees for the glass.
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I use hairspray (the absolute cheapest available*) on mirror-glass, just a very fine misting, but it's very dependent on the characteristics of individual filament brands. I absolutely need some sort of adhesion help with my current favourite filament, eSun PLA or PLA+, but the no-name filament I was using before became stuck rock-solid to the bed if I used anything at all. For that stuff, all I needed was a scrupulously clean and grease-free glass bed.
* In this case, cheaper hairspray is actually better. The very cheapest hairspray is basically just lacquer and a bit of cheap scent, while expensive sprays also include all sorts of conditioners and what-not which are actually worse for our purposes.
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I am current using the heat bed from Prusa, (flexible and easy to remove all my prints from. I always clean the my heat bed prior to printing, this removes all dust (a pain in the bottom as messes with adhesion to the build plate) and any grease etc from my fingers. I use Iso-Propyl Alcohol for cleaning the plate, you can pick it up off Amazon etc.
As for first layer not sticking, please check out this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE-lrRbU124&t=235s, I know it is Prusa however the basics of it works for most of the renters out there (I had a cheap Chinese knock off prior to going for a better quality and it works for that one). You are skipping to approx 3mins 45seconds. I also found that my printing plate although says I can print on both sides only likes one side. the other side has no adhesion what's so ever.
Check the temperature of the PLA that you are using and make sure that your slicing software matches it and has not changed it I use Cura and when I updated it it changed my PLA heat settings to lower than what it should be and it caused me a lot of issues.
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If you do Facebook join the Ender 3 groups.
Very helpful and informative.
Grimm
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Thanks everybody, all advice noted sadly the printer has been waiting on the side due to other commitments but already looking forward in trying some new prints soon!
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First 3D printed miniature! Looks like the printer is working much better with the added glass bed and helpful comments. Miniature from Thingiverse printed on Enders 3, took roughly two hours to print - material cost €0,10. Starting to like the printer once more!
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That's a nice print.
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Excellent stuff Tim. 8)
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Quick update, thanks to all your great tips I have managed to get my 3D printing going well (found some more time too)
Have been printing quite some carts and barrel scenery with great results lately
Best tips were the new glass bed and a can of trusty 3D LAC making each print easy.
Have only printed pieces without the need of support but might venture into pieces with supports later.
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Looks good. Keep it up!
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Beautiful print!
Instead of a glass bed, you can use PEI sheet (same material than Prusa), no need to use 3DLac or similar - only wiping the PEI sheet with alcohol before each print. I use flammable alcohol, cheaper than isopropyl. The pro of PEI is you don't risk to break the glass.
Hope to see more of your (painted) prints
Cheers
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Thanks for the nice comments and advice, hope to paint up some prints soon that said time is sadly limited these days.
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Some pictures of the printed carts and barrels. Even tried to print a horse but that didn't worked out well. Will be using the small 2-wheeled cart as a fantasy barbarian chariot but with smaller wheels and some modifications.