[SGVHAK] how to avoid a failed 3d print session

[Richard Scobey]

I forwarded your question to a co-worker of mine, who also has the Makerbot.
Apparently, he uses ABS, and not PLA, but he did have ant excellent tip...

"I use ABS. Not PLA. Calibration Is critical. The first layer has to be  well attached into the platform.  I avoid rafts and never get good results with support. The object has to be analyzed to determine if its printable on this type of printer. Flat bottom surfaces are obviously best. Sometimes I paint the platform with a solution of acetone and abs"

Rick

Sent from my iPad

On Mar 27, 2013, at 11:47 AM, Homan Chou <homanchou at gmail.com> wrote:

> My office just bought the makerbot replicator 2 and I've been trying
> to print out a PLA plastic model of a delorean that I found on
> thingiverse.com
> 
> We've had some failed prints due to the print becoming loose from the
> glass while printing.  Selecting 'raft' during the slicing process
> will first print a mesh lining on the bottom so that helps with that.
> 
> The next time I printed it, I set the splicer to low quality (default
> 15% fill), selected to include 'raft', and included 'support' for the
> hell of it (the documentation isn't explicit about what it does).  It
> took 4 hours to print and the result was terrible.  It looked like the
> delorean was encased inside scaffolding and yarn from a hot glue gun.
> 
> Then we tried high quality with raft but no 'support'.  The wheels
> printed to about 25% tall, was looking awesome, then when it got to
> the under carriage, it just tried to spew hot plastic right in
> mid-air. Duh... fail again.  So I guess support is needed since the
> under carriage doesn't have anything underneath it to build upon.
> 
> Then we tried high quality with 'raft' and 'support', 3% fill, it took
> about an hour to slice, and pretty much all day to print, and though
> the resolution was much higher than the low quality attempt, it was
> encased in scaffolding in all open spaces, which is still pretty much
> impossible to take off.
> 
> Any tips?
> 
> Homan
>