Beekeg's Build

I posted here yesterday with a thermistor calibration problem, and took Sublime's advice and adjusted the thermistor pull-up resistor parameter in Marlin. Although this confirmed that my pull-up was 4.7k, the action of setting and resetting the parameter did something and I was greeted with a controlled stream of PLA from the hotend

This evening I had a go at calibration and was pleased to get some reasonable results with the basic settings. I'd welcome any comments on the results and any suggested tweaks to improve the output.

Thanks to this great forum and the brilliant and elegant design of the Tantillus I feel that I am now 'on the road' with my printer. I hope to be able to feedback my experiences in building this hybrid imperial (plastic) /metric (hardware) version in the UK if anyone is interested.

Greg









Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2013 07:42PM by beekeg.

It looks like the Z lift bracket may be too tight in the Z arms. It should move back and forth to allow the lead screw to wobble without causing the uneven layers. You may also want to lubricate the lead screw as too much friction can result in micro stepping inaccuracies. It could also be the cables need tightening, if they are lose it can have a similar effect.

You may also be running a little too hot. I would try lowering the temp by 10 and see how they come out. If the prints are still strong and do not de-laminate or it does not cause the hotend too jam you could try even lower. If it does jam I would try increasing the cooling either in the software via fan speed or by getting stronger fans.

Last thing is the flow looks too high. Have you followed the E calibration on the tutorials page of Tantillus.org

---

FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

Thanks for the feedback. I'll start with the lubrication, temperature settings and e calibration. I didn't realise that there should be some play in the Z-lift bracket slots, but now it makes perfect sense.

I've had some mixed results over the last couple of days. The main frustration has been getting the first layer to stick to the blue painter tape. I got better results when I'd improved the levelling of the bed. This reduced the number of times the run aborted due to an engulfed hotend.

My current problem is warping. I have tried cleaning the tape with Surgical Spirit (Rubbing Alcohol) and lowering the temperature, but on large flat areas I am still getting warping.

Apart from the adhesion problems the prints are very promising.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I am printing on a PVA glue mixture and it works so well I forgot all about the woes of printing on tape. You can try painting White glue (PVA), Wood glue or Glue stick on the glass. Let it dry and then print on that. You can also try printing on lemon juice and hairspray but I have no experience with them so I can not offer any help. Other than that you can turn on grid raft in the support tab of Kisslicer and set the inflate to something like 2 (maybe more).

---

FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

We had a variety of glue sticks to hand so I went with Power Pritt on top of the blue tape. It sticks almost too well on delicate items, so I will experiment with regular strength. I'll also try it straight on the glass, which I expect will produce a better finish.

Do you dilute the PVA glue or use it neat?

p.s. The banding due to z wobble is less pronounced now since lubricating the thread, but I will still add some lateral play to the Z lift bracket when the opportunity arises.

I use a mixture of different glues and additives that I created a few months back. But since then I have heard many reports of using much more simple things like the glue sticks so I have not taken it past the first batch I gave away as samples. If anyone is using the stuff I sent them I would love to hear about their experiences with it.

---

FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

I use plain clear Scotch 3M glue stick, like this : [www.dickblick.com]
For large parts by itself it still won't stop curling with PLA, or at least I've never gotten it to. I've had parts stick perfectly well but still curl when peeled off. Heated bed fixes this, though.

I've also used plain PVA glue on glass, diluted with about 10 parts water 1 part glue and allowed to dry, best with a heated bed otherwise you have to wait some time for it to dry. If you clean your bed with rubbing alcohol make sure it's totally dry or else your glue turns into a rubbery goop.