anyone 3d print?

[Irish_Alley]

just getting into 3d printing and im having trouble printing in abs, PLA prints like a dream. i have a sidewinder x1 with a heated bed. ive read that you dont really want the ABS heated bed to be above 90°C but it seams like i dont have any luck unless its above 145°. ive tried glue sticks and hairspray, going to get some acetone to make some ABS juice but it just seams like i shouldnt really have to do this. if i have the bed to 145 and the extruder to 245 i average about 50% fail rate. it fails on the brim so its not too bad of a waist but i can print two things at once and one will fail while the other does ok

[fitz]

I'm thinking that VileZambonie would have a 3D printer in his garage. 

[Irish_Alley]

lol, talked to my cousin. found out i leveled the bed wrong, i folded a piece of paper and used that. he said dont fold it, so i re-leveled the bed again and now im back to printing. its nice when things are working great

[fitz]

I've only watched a few videos online about the 3D printers.  Any parts you plan on making?

[ehjorten]

I print about $18k worth of material every year on our 3D printers at work.  My 3rd job at work is maintaining the machines, ordering consumables, and training new people to use them.  We have a Stratasys Fortus 400mc FDM machine and an old Objet30 Polyjet machine.  I am looking into what we should get at work to replace the Objet30, as it doesn't get much use anymore and is starting to show its age.  The Fortus 400mc runs ABS-M30, Nylon12, & PC.

[Irish_Alley]

For our trucks not off hand. Would be nice to make some emblems for some people but haven't really found a good material for uv exposure. The printer I have is 300mmx300mmx400mm so roughly a square foot. Printed the kids some Legos already and a dishwasher clean/dirty. Now printing some camels as a joke for one of my coworkers. I'm going to insert a valve stem cap inside and he will have 🐪 valve stem caps.

After that I do have a medium job that will take 21 hrs to print, it's going to be a lower receiver ;-)

[zieg85]

Would be nice to make some emblems for some people but haven't really found a good material for uv exposure. ;-)

It would be interesting to try some high dollar UV resistant automotive clear over a chrome like leafing aluminum and see how well it holds up.

[VileZambonie]

With the lower grade 3D printers, they are very sensitive and prone to printing failures. With the MakerBots, we always used blue masking tape and manually calibrated the bed for best success. Now that I have high end 3D printer access at work, I do not waste my time with the clunkerbots. Learn Solidworks and you will be able to design and replicate parts. PLA is fine for most stuff but I did get this and experiment with it Click Here which definitely helped reduce the gradient lines in printed objects.

[Irish_Alley]

now that there is fancy looking machine there vile. just gotta wait to get it so i dont cause too much trouble at home lol.
my cousin suggested using borosilicate glass then using blue tape with hairspray. but as it stands my heated glass bed is holding real good now, to the point i feel like im having to use too much force to break things loose while using the ABS. ill have to look into the solidworks. fusion seams good but there is a learning curve but im making progress

[VileZambonie]

Try the blue masking tape for sure. Good luck

[Irish_Alley]

now would i level it before the placing the tape down or after?

[VileZambonie]

I found laying the blue tape down at a 45° angle and rubbing it in good, to ensure it is stuck on really good without overlapping was the best way. Then level the bed, calibrate the extruder heads and hope for the best.

[Irish_Alley]

a little update, after re-leveling the bed and fine tuning my temps i find abs is pretty much easy to print with without having and failures. hotend temp is 240c bed temp is 110. after the bed cools the parts break free by themselves.
ive also found filament called "PLA+ (plus)" which is supposed to be about as strong as ABS but just as easy to print as reg PLA. havnt had to try the blue tape yet, one of the signs that i found the the hotend temp isnt hot enough is the gear to force it into the hotend (not sure of technical name) will start shaving bits off the filament and will gum up the gear.

now since i think i got it "figured" out ive been printing with the ABS and the only issue i have is the rough top layer, which im guessing is from heat expanding and pushing the top layer around