This is my first 3D printer so sorry for the simple question. I've been able to print some small items (>1hour) and a medium item (>2 hours) but now I'm trying to print a spool for my filament. This is the model I'm printing http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1738730
I've been able to print the female part OK(ish) but when I try and print the male part the print warps and pops off the print bed, I've failed twice now any suggestion as to what im doing wrong ?
I'm printing with the supplied sample PLA with the 0.4 nozzle and 2.5mm layer height. If you look at my 3rd photo the bottom layer doesn't look right (at least to me) could this be causing the lack of hold on the print.
any suggestions or pointers would be much appreciated
Just guessing, but it does look a bit thin (you really shouldn't be able to see infill). What is your surface layers set to? The default is 3 (I think). In the earlier photos it looks almost as if it's set to 1.
Also I'd suggest trying 0.2mm instead of 0.25mm... for no other reason than that's what I've had the most success with (0.4mm nozzle at 0.2mm heights).
It could also very much be the model. I've been meaning to print a spool myself (for samples), but something I read suggested that the filaments wound on a spool below a certain diameter tend to get worse the closer it is to the spool center (due to the extra tension needed to fully wind around it). It could just be marketing shpeil, but it kinda makes sense too. So I wanted to find (or make) a design with a bigger center.
Im not 100% what surface layer I had set but I did a few more test prints ensuring it was at 3 and the first layer looked a lot better and smoother as expected. I tried the 0.2mm layer height and with a different model and it was still warping off the build plate.
I ended up putting a layer of masking tape down and that seems to have worked. Althought I made a stupid decision on positioning of my print and only realised half way through that it was going to fail. Printed this on its side with no supports but this is more problem in chair, not in computer. There was still a little bit of warping on the left hand point of the print but I suspect that was because it was an old role of masking tape thats been in my stuff box for who knows how long.
