MakerGear Forum

I've had an M2 for 2 or 3 weeks now. Love it. I've been telling anyone who will listen how good this thing is: http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-revie ... B00ELUOERA

I've been printing PLA directly on the glass with some smears of Elmer's purple glue sticks. I run the bed at 60c for parts that I think are likely to lift (long, thin arms) and I run it cold on parts that I expect to stick well. Everything has been flawless. For parts with a small base, I give a quick twist and tug to remove them and for anything that is fairly well-stuck I remove the glass, support it on my lap and give it a quick swipe with a drywall scraper and it pops right off.

A few days ago I tried printing ABS for the first time. I used the default settings for extruder and bed (235c, 110c). Once again I printed directly on the glass with Elmers. The print came out fine. I allowed the bed to cool, then removed it from the printer and gave my standard swipe with the scraper. The part popped off, but a piece of glass from the build platform came with it (stuck VERY firmly to the part). I'm pretty surprised by this. Anyone experienced this before? I haven't done much printing on glass with other printers and I've really been enjoying how easy and maintenance-free this is compared with other options (blue tape, vinyl, etc.). Is the glass supposed to be consumable? Have I done something wrong? You can see the missing piece in the middle of the "M2" logo in this picture.



cheers,
c

Yeah, it's not very common, but unfortunately, you're not the first. If you plan to print a lot of ABS, you can't go wrong with the full sheet Kapton tape, to protect the surface of the glass. (And some of the guys recommend using the ABS slurry (on the Kapton) for the best sticking power.)

http://www.amazon.com/Polyimide-Sheets- ... tape+sheet

If you are not going to print tall ABS prints though, for PLA, Wood and PETG, you absolutely cannot beat the Zebra plate. It doesn't need glue or hairspray to stick the item to the plate, and it's slightly flexible to break the seal and lift the print off when it cools. (I've never had to flex it though, prints just lift off.)

But using it for tall ABS prints is not recommended - it can warp the plate and break your print. (It's fantastic for PLA and PETG.)

http://www.printinz.com/zebra-plates/

I skip the glue and print ABS directly on the glass. Just make sure to keep the glass squeaky clean (alcohol + water rinse), go slow on the bottom and and make sure the extruder is close enough but not too close (Turn the fan off), and it sticks perfectly. Below 80-90C, the part pulls right off with no risk of breakage.

swbluto wrote:I skip the glue and print ABS directly on the glass. Just make sure to keep the glass squeaky clean (alcohol + water rinse), go slow on the bottom and and make sure the extruder is close enough but not too close (Turn the fan off), and it sticks perfectly. Below 80-90C, the part pulls right off with no risk of breakage.

Alright I'm going to go try this now.

yeah that didn't work

Bed was squeaky clean (4 washes with soapy water, 4 washes with tap water, 2 washes with denatured alcohol, 2 washes with tap water, 2 scrubs with dry paper towels ... seriously it took me like 20 minutes). The bed was at 95C, ABS at 230C, print speed 10mm/sec for the bottom layer.

Hell, my dishes aren't that clean!

It needs 110C. ABS is real finicky about bed temperature and the ABS starts to slide around 100C, easily pulls off around 85-90C so 95C is a bit too low. It also takes a bit of experimentation to find the ideal bed height - trust me, it's an art that I've taken much time to learn but mastering it is well worth it in my opinion. ABS is much more finicky about the 'right height' than PLA, as it needs to be squished flat (But not too flat so as to build excess on the edges during the bottom layer infill) to adhere well to the glass.

A simple alchohol wipe is usually fine. I usually follow up with a damp floursack cloth to clean up the streaking the alcohol leaves behind.

Im currently in the middle of a 15 hour ABS print. Im making an 8 inch diameter grid/grate. I put some abs juice on the bed and added a raft (230C, 110C). Part is looking good from a "lifting off the bed" prospective, but it seems like the bottom is shrinking in as it goes. This is only happening on the outside circumference and it looks like the top (most recent layer) is flared out. Any ideas? Will it still print successfully?

Large ABS prints, if they don't lift off the bed, are prone to splitting along layer lines as the plastic cools differentially. If you insist upon ABS, you will want to investigate a DIY enclosure to keep the print warmed up. Several users here have had success with an enclosure sourced from Ikea, here's one thread: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=56

I taped together some sheets of cardboard and put it around the printer last night. One can tell when the "enclosure" went on because the bottom half shrunk and warped and the top half didn't.