Hi all. I got myself an Ender 3 PRO to print the MPCNC parts. I bought it used, not having had any 3d printing experience from before. I’ve spent a week getting it to run smoothly. I seemed to have figured out most of its quirks and personality traits, and I was eager to start producing parts. The dress reharsal (Benchy) went very well.
BUT ALAS! When printing the bottom corner, the whole thing seemed skewed! No straight angles or sides. I oiled the z-screw, further stabilized the bench it stands on (screwed it even more into the wall), added more adhesive (hairspray) to the bed, and reviewed my settings. I used 0.26mm layer height (0.4 nozzle), 30 mm/s speed, 100mm/s travel speed and infill as instructed.
Having tried all these minor ways of improving the print, I tried printing a new type of testing piece. It all seemed relatively fine. Then I made a little tower, to see if any shifts/warps occured - nothing. So now I’ve tried yet again - but the piece seems to warp from the board - even though I have added yet more adhesive. It seems that this piece has a shape that makes my print prone to warping. How can I prevent this? 1/4 parts glue/water? I’ve been hesitating with bothering you with this issue, but now I feel like I’m hitting my head at the wall…
Edit: Trying a little more headbanging against the wall. Cleaned my bed, applied new adhesive, and am now printing with a raft! Lets see how that goes. I never checked the hold of the hairspray, it it seems like its only medium hold. Guess I’ll go hairspray-shopping soon!
I used elmers purple glue stick. Was never a fan of spraying an accelerant onto and into my printer. If that still doesn’t work, blue painter’s tape. Lay it down edge to edge, no overlap! Then use a paper towel with some iso alcohol on it to rough up the top a little, not too much, basically you’re just wiping off your fingerprints on the tape.
Okay? Didn’t realize that travel speed would matter much… is it because of the jerking? Let’s see how this one goes, if it’s still not square, I have yet another option to try out! Thanks!
I, too, have the Ender 3 Pro, but bought the kit new. The default travel speed on Cura 4.1.0 is 120mm/s for and Ender 3 type 3D printer, never touched it. I’ve obviously had no issues with it since I printed all of Ryan’s MPCNC parts last May with no problems with layer shifts.
I opted for the magnetic mat and will never go back to blue tape or other methods for bed adhesion. Rafts aren’t needed for most of Ryan’s parts - the only one I opted to raft was the tool holder for the Z gantry since it’s so tall.
Make sure the tension on the X arm belt is not too tight or too loose, I think skipping steps in the X direction could cause the layer shift shown in your picture.
Prusa's default travel speed is 180mm/s, but in my case, that's too fast for my liking, and can introduce layer shifts once you print heavier things, like the mpcnc parts. I use 80 on my prusa and ender 3 units.
How about bed temp? It’s not really needed for PLA, but I find it helps for warping like you have.
Thanks for all the helpful input! Unfortunately, I don’t follow Ryans rule of life - to exclude only one variable at a time… the print on the raft turned out perfect! (apart from the minor cosmetical traces of the raft)
I keep my bed at 60c, just to be sure.
I tried again with a new kind of hairspray and a lower travel speed. I think the hairspray was absolutely terrible for this use, the print losened only after 5 mm.
So now I’m back to using the raft, until I have found a better type of hairspray or got myself the right kind of glue stick.
I tried the skewed print on the rail, and it actually fitted well enough. But I’ll not use it, I think that the mechanical stress can break it too easily. The warped piece is the lowest, and the one printed on the raft is on top.[attachment file=104134]
EDIT: BTW - does the forum automatically rotate all images from vertical to horizontal??
