MakerGear Forum

So I finally finished setting up the M2 printer. The instructions are incomplete to my liking for the kit. I did like how the frame was put together. I have many many extra screws/bolts left over even after following all the instructions. The Z rod stopper bolt comes loose after you print with it. Even with a nut on either side the vibration moves the bolt.

The leveling took a while but once it is level I haven't had to adjust it. Yay me! I print in only ABS for now. I have printed a hex shaped vase fine, and 2 Yoda heads. 1 at .2mm with default speeds for S3D. I then printed a Yoda head with less in fill (5%), slower speeds, and .1mm layer. The difference was great. My Temps are 230-235 and 100-110 for the bed. I was having a really hard time with Curling on the corners on everything I made. Stick glue fixed that issue but the cleanup process and smell it makes is very bad. I will try hairspray next.

I have 2 separate issues: I cant seem to print anything smaller than .1mm . What are good settings using ABS and S3D software to print a better resolution?

I cannot print this or things like this for some reason:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:150431

I am not using supports. I should be able to print it without supports but from what I am seeing, it is printing the outer edge first which is technically in the air and the extruder just makes strings everywhere. When I do add supports, it makes supports inside the bear and outside. it would be impossible to break off the inside supports. What are good support settings as the defaults in S3D would not work.

I'm surprised about your Z adjustment screw. When the nut is tightened, mine never moves. It is in a threaded hole, you should not need a nut on both sides.

Glue stick washes off with water, and has no scent. I think what you're smelling is the ABS itself, which has a... distinctive odor.

What issues are you having when trying to print lower layer heights? The problem you will run into is that the extruder can only accurately extrude so slow. Try faster printing speeds at lower resolutions. But 0.10mm is generally the lowest layer height that most desktop printers will attempt; the print times will go way up for no real perceivable benefit.

In S3D, you can choose Outline Direction in the Layer tab to print inside to outside.

brolly759 wrote:So I finally finished setting up the M2 printer. The instructions are incomplete to my liking for the kit. I did like how the frame was put together. I have many many extra screws/bolts left over even after following all the instructions. The Z rod stopper bolt comes loose after you print with it. Even with a nut on either side the vibration moves the bolt.

There are extra fasteners in the kit. If you followed the instructions step-by-step, you used the proper number of fasteners. The extras are spare in case you dropped one (or multiple) into the carpet or down a floor register for your HVAC system. That never happens, by the way. As for the Z nut/bolt, it's a jam nut. IMO the instructions are backwards by putting the nut on top of the spider, it works the same on the underside and is much easier to loosen for adjustment. Get the bolt in place, thread a Z nut from the underside until it touches the spider, then really reef that sucker on there. It's small hardware, so don't snap it, but do really crank the nut down on there. The idea is to put enough tension there that the threads won't slide across each other anymore, perhaps by partially deforming the bolt.

brolly759 wrote:The leveling took a while but once it is level I haven't had to adjust it. Yay me! I print in only ABS for now. I have printed a hex shaped vase fine, and 2 Yoda heads. 1 at .2mm with default speeds for S3D. I then printed a Yoda head with less in fill (5%), slower speeds, and .1mm layer. The difference was great. My Temps are 230-235 and 100-110 for the bed. I was having a really hard time with Curling on the corners on everything I made. Stick glue fixed that issue but the cleanup process and smell it makes is very bad. I will try hairspray next.

Have you tried the included Kapton tape on the bed? I know everybody is gluestick this and hairspray that, but sometimes you really need the tried & tested Kapton & ABS slurry. It's what I use exclusively for my ABS prints, simply because of how reliable it is. Getting the Kapton on is a chore, so don't do it until your bed is definitely level or you'll drag a nozzle through it and have to reapply the tape immediately.

brolly759 wrote: I have 2 separate issues: I cant seem to print anything smaller than .1mm . What are good settings using ABS and S3D software to print a better resolution?

What happens when you try and print thinner than 0.1mm? It's likely a calibration issue with your specific filament, or the print speeds / acceleration are off.

brolly759 wrote: I cannot print this or things like this for some reason:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:150431

I am not using supports. I should be able to print it without supports but from what I am seeing, it is printing the outer edge first which is technically in the air and the extruder just makes strings everywhere. When I do add supports, it makes supports inside the bear and outside. it would be impossible to break off the inside supports. What are good support settings as the defaults in S3D would not work.

This is one of the problems 3D printing faces for home adoption, unfortunately. To make an example too simplistic (and perhaps somewhat insulting -- sorry if that's the case, it's not my intent), this is sort of what happens when somebody buys a nice inkjet printer for the first time. They hit "print" on their normal documents and they come out great, like calibration pieces. Then they hit "print" on a family photo, and it comes out like crap because it's the wrong paper. Where home 3D printing falls short is that it's not just a matter of going to the store and buying the photo paper and enjoying the great print quality now (and piggybacking on literally millions of manhours that are silently rolled into the development of that home inkjet), it's a matter of recognizing what settings cause what issues on the prints (on the M2 it's generally acceleration -- the stock acceleration is too high for some prints).

The 2D printers have it much easier, since they only have to function well for a single sheet of paper thickness -- the 3D printers have to function perfectly for each sheet-of-paper thickness layer, and things like the plastic feedstock being 0.05mm out of round (literally the diameter of a human hair) can mess up a layer a noticable amount when printing < 0.1mm layers, and woe betide you if that's on the earlier layers since everything above it now has to compensate. Obviously the machines can do less than 0.1mm layers. MG has a picture of a Yoda bust printed at 0.02mm layers or something ludicrous like that. The thing though, it doesn't look *that* much better than a 0.1mm print. The investment/payoff for consistent prints like that is skewed way out of proportion.

I guess what I'm saying is "print simpler things first"