Help Fine Tuning Cooling & Bed

I am trying to fine tune my printer so that I can do unattended full plates. Currently I can print a single object such as a minifig at 0.1mm with awesome quality but for some reason the larger prints are not working very well.

I have put a ducted fan that blows on the nozzle and is under gcode control. The nozzle is insulated with ceramic and has no problems keeping its temperature with a breeze.

Current settings:
(I currently get best prints using Cura, mostly because Slic3r settings do not work at ALL for me. Anybody know how to transfer Cura settings to Slic3r??)
0.35mm nozzle
0.20mm layers
0.20mm first layer
0.60mm walls
0.60mm first/last solid infill
40% infill
minimum layer time 20 seconds
50mm/s perimeters and infill
ABS plastic
225c nozzle temp
130c bed temp

The problems: (Lighting makes the layers look like they overhang, their actually quite smooth and I like the print quality)

Open Image

1) The lower mm of the print starts to curl after about 4-5mm are printed. This is due to the heated bed being to high. I have tried printing down to 100c bed temp and it does the same thing every time, any lower and the part pops off the bed.
2) The layers shrink when cooled causing delamination
3) I use a brim on small 0.1mm prints but these large ones always curl the brim up and pop off. The raft helps as its pretty flexible.

For reference I am using the standard Mendel calibration shape. On solid layers my fan runs 75% and on infil 25%

What other options should I be twiddling to get these problems solved??

is there any way you can but down a thicker first layer and 2 more interface layers for the raft. that raft looks rather week. if you want parts to stick to the bed and not use a raft, then the first layer needs to be really pushed in to the bed. can you increase thickness of first layer?

also what is your bed interface, can you use blue tape or kapton tape, have you tried hairspray or floor acrylic to improve adhesion?


many people run into this issue. read the forums. look for first layer of print or something similar

I have switched to using ABS joice on my glass surface and that has solved ALL of my sticking issues.

I am thinking that the part still wants to warp and after the pressure builds up over a few layers it pulls a layer apart slightly. Do you think that having the whole printer in a heated box would help out?

I will post a picture comparing 0.1mm and 0.2mm prints with the same settings sides layer height to show you why this is a confusing issue.

Below is the comparison, all the same settings and printed one after another. You can see that on the right hand piece there are gaps in the layers and there is even a whole layer separation in the top hole just like the print in the first post.

Bigger Pic

2 things to note:
1) Don't let your cat watch the printer... Its disastrous.
2) If your ABS joice lifts off the glass you MUST replace it or the next piece will pop off (The mini fig did)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2013 06:14PM by uMinded.

Oddly enough I tried printing an entire plate of Misumi T-Slot corner brackets and they printed perfectly. If I print a small object at 0.2mm it has delaminations yet a full plate is good.

I guess I need to stabilize the air around the printer but for the time being I guess I will just wait until I have enough parts to print that I have a full plate.

If it's abs turn off the fan. Mine was just cooling it too quick and now I get great prints with no warping. Keep the fan
only for PLA