I am hoping my problems are mainly due to material factors, I have noticed other people complaining about adherence problems due to cheap chinese filament and I suspect that is what I have (although sourced from Sweden). I have been doing some testing recently and having some success by using clingfilm on the glass which although does not solve the problem does improve it considerably. Re Nopheadby glyn - General
In my setup there is a fine line between having the head low enough on the first layer so the print sticks and too low which causes this 'crustiness'. How I would love to be able to print the first layer the same height as the rest....by glyn - General
What happens if you set your bed temperature too low! messby glyn - Look what I made!
Found this on the web, I want one! MIT link This would really give a lot more options for the build volume.by glyn - General
Not quite what you wanted but it might help. I just replaced my mechanical stop on the Z axis with an opto one. I couldn't source the 2.1 parts (not at the prices I was prepared to pay anyway) so I got an opto interrupter from ebay. Anyway attached is my circuit which works ok. The out wire goes to the signal input on the sanguinololu, the +5v goes to the +5v line not the +v on the board. Also aby glyn - General
I really don't know why this thread is continuing, can't all the sane people here just agree to stop posting and return to reality. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------by glyn - General
Or try "Sprinter experimental", that uses a lot of the improved code found in Marlin. I've been using it for a while now with improved results.by glyn - General
A few things seem important to get good adhesion, for me anyway. 1. The bed needs to be completely level. 2. The first layer needs to be squished. 3. The initial bed temperature needs to be 65-70 deg C for PLA, subsequent layers can be lower e.g. 50 but you risk warping if too low. 3. A glass surface is best, and must be cleaned before each print. I think it also depends on the filament, some stby glyn - Reprappers
OK well even though I use pronterface I didn't know it could do that.. If you load a gcode file then click on the grid you get nothing and my mousewheel does nothing either. By trial and error I found that Alt & up/down arrows will display the layers. I then searched for the latest version which has Slic3r integrated all for you (didn't know that either). http://koti.kapsi.fi/~kliment/printruby glyn - General
Does anyone use or recommend a Gcode viewer for Slic3r along the lines of Skeinlayer?by glyn - General
QuoteTurn up your non-printing movement speed to save some time Yes I forgot to increase that when I speeded up, Sprinter experimental seems have a simplified acceleration setting with the default at 1000 mm/s^2 What is the Prusa speed limit? Also depends how fast you can melt the filament I guess. 60 200 1000by glyn - General
I was thinking of trying Marlin but seeing the mention of Sprinter experimental I thought I would give that a go, seems much smoother. Printing at 60mm/sby glyn - General
Thanks for replies, the polyholes article is very informative and explains point two nicely. I tried the idea about small holes and I'm sure it would work but it is not straightforward see my first attempt attached. The group on the left has a centre hole of radius 0.8mm surrounded by six holes of 0.5mm diameter. I'm not sure why SF did not put anything between the small holes as there is a 1.5mmby glyn - General
After some sticking problems with PLA I have just frosted my glass and the results seem better. Method I used was to put a small amount of carborundum grit on the glass and a little water then use another piece of glass and rub the two together. This created a very fine frosted finish and also removed any small irregularities in the glass. I guess you could use wet and dry sandpaper if you had noby glyn - General
A couple of questions about holes. In item shown in the attached image I wanted to create a couple of small holes to drill and tap. I set the first layer to have 5 extra shells but when I started printing I realised I would need these extra shells in every layer to create a solid area around the holes. The thing is I don't really want these extra shells apart from around the holes so is there anby glyn - General
Well I think I have solved it. I think it was just a case of the head being too close to the bed on the first layer. I follow the standard procedure for bed levelling but the skeinforge default bottom setting seems too low so I now have settings of :- Additional Height over Layer Thickness = 1.5 Altitude = 0 which works a lot better.by glyn - General
Still having problems with the first layer. Perimeters go down ok (but are they too squashed?) When the infill is being done the head will sometimes plough through the layers and distort/move the print. See attached image which I hope may help someone diagnose my problem(s). Thanks. P.S. if the first layer is successful then the rest of the print is fine. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:19468by glyn - General
OK, That instruction was added since I attempted to get the bed working. In fact looking at the Longboat wiki page there is a whole load of new info so maybe it will work with the new instructions. Still I am going to stick with my set up which I know works. To answer your question yes Q2 should be in place if you are going to run the bed from the board.by glyn - General
If you are not using the bed mosfet then you should not have the link on the board. Not sure what you mean by put Q2 back, there is only the one mod mentioned i.e. the link.by glyn - General
I believe this is the source of the Longboat info but it does not match what is on the Longboat wiki page. Adrians_Prusa_Notes I followed Adrians instructions but still could not make it work so I (like most people I suspect) just used the Sanguinololu onboard drivers. So in your diagram at the bottom, +12v goes to A and 0v goes to B. The thermistor leads attach to the bottom pins on the right oby glyn - General
Thanks for comments I think the main problem was the first metre or so was inconsistent it seems to have settled down now. This batch does seem reluctant to stick to the glass so I am having to increase the bed temp substantially. A few questions though Can you have the bed too hot? Obviously not so it melts the PLA but will it hinder rather than help if it gets too hot. QuoteAre you sure the fiby glyn - General
Quote the outside perimeter of whatever I am printing "curls up" Sounds like a bed sticking problem. What have you set the temp of your bed to? Also I find it makes a difference what you clean the glass with, meths works and nail varnish remover doesn't (only two I've tried).by glyn - General
I have just taken delivery of a new batch of pla and am struggling to get a decent print from it. Is there a recommended sequence of steps I would benefit from to get it calibrated? Parameters I've been changing. Temperature, old pla was 220 new seems about 180! Does not stick to glass as well, increased bed temp from 45 to 55 Seems to ooze a lot so increased feed rate and reduced flow rateby glyn - General
I did lose about 10mm from the PTFE part as I chopped it where the thread ended and I cut the bolts accordingly so I can unscrew the heater block without taking the whole extruder to bits. You are dead right about the design flaw and when I re-made the end I reduced the size of the cylinder to fit into the PEEK block so it pressed right down to the shoulder I'm afraid I forgot about that part ofby glyn - General
QuoteDo you think that I can get away with just shortening the existing PTFE part by the 6mm or so that I would need to modify it? Well that is what I did...by glyn - General
I had the same problem too. In my case I think the nuts came loose on the bolts which retain the PEEK block and the whole end moved towards the bed so the nozzle was blocked then causing pressure to build and break the PTFE at the screw/brass interface. I managed to fix it by the following methods though. 1. Clean the brass of molten PLA by repeatedly heating it in a blowtorch then dunking in metby glyn - General
Have you gone thrugh the extruder calibration? link I also found it necessary to check the temperature of the tip with a probe as the reported reading was not accurate.by glyn - General
The link below details the method I use to level, I also found it helpful to drill out the holes on the bottom aluminium sheet by 1 size so the bolts would move more freely. Adrians Notesby glyn - General