I have been using my Snapmaker a lot in the last few days printing out models for a market day at my son’s school. The printer had been working like a champ, until yesterday when it started doing this.
It seems like the first layer prints fine, but the second layer is getting stuck on the nozzle and pulling. I’ve never seen it do anything like this, and have tried multiple prints afterwards, all with the same results. The filament I’m using is standard PLA and I’ve already used this filament several times successfully.
I’ve re-leveled the heated bed and have tried multiple files. The gcodes I’m using are files I’ve used before, so I’m a little confused as to why this is happening.
Can anyone provide some suggestions? My project is currently on-hold until I can figure out these problems.
When I start to see something like this on my bed, I hit it with hairspray. My wife hates it because I usually forget to put it back in the bathroom for her, but it works.
Does the hairspray make the bed sticky? I’ve seen people talk about using a glue stick or painter’s tape, but have never needed to apply anything to help with adhesion.
It makes it a little tacky when the plastic hits it. I haven’t ever really needed to use glue, tape or any of the other methods that have been discussed. I usually print with a brim, lots of little parts, and so I can see it start to lift on the brim. When this happens I cancel the print hit with the hair spray and restart the print.
What kind of hairspray do you use? Are we talking the hardcore Aqua Net, or some pump spray product? I’d prefer to not use the gluestick/tape if possible.
This sounds similar to my issue that I faced several times. I have opened a thread for this and there are several suggestions in there. I have to admit that I did not yet have time to try a lot, but possibly there are some helpful hints in there: Print does not stick
Please don’t use glue/tape/hairspray.
There is no need for.
Use a window cleaner containung alcohol to clean the surface after a few prints.
Layer height 0,20 mm and max. 10 mm/s for the first layer helped me a lot. Since I do this no failed prints!
I had trouble with prints sticking until I realized that some of the settings for the initial layer are not set to their recommended settings by default. After manually adjusting to the recommended values, I haven’t had any issues. Worth noting, these are settings for PLA.
Heated Bed Initial Temp Layer is set to 50º C but the tooltip recommends 60º C.
Printing Temp Initial Later is set to 200º C but the tooltip recommends 210º C.
Thanks to everyone for their input. Last night I went home and spent some time with the printer. I cleaned the heated bed really well with alcohol, and hit it with a small amount of hairspray, but when I tried the print again, it was still lifting up in one corner.
The screws under the heated bed ended up being the problem! Like I said in my OP, we have been using it almost non-stop for about a week. Obviously all this activity has caused the threads to loosen, and so the heat wasn’t being applied properly to the bed. I hand-tightened all the screws under the bed very tightly and it started printing great!
Using a higher temperature for the first layer is always a good idea, and I’ve been using 60c degrees for the bed and 210c degrees for the nozzle.
I would strongly suggest AGAINST using the hairspray - true, it’s sticky and help with adhesion, but it’s also messy and I had to fashion a crude shield to avoid any of the spray getting inside the printer parts.
So before you start applying glue or tape, make sure you do the simple thing and check the screws for the heated bed itself.
I actually recommend heating your bed up to about 70 degrees and then using a pair of channel lock pliers to gently tighten the thumb screws. I have a feeling the heating and cooling cycles of the heated bed are leading to the screws slowly loosening.
@rojaljelly it IS needed. Applying hair spray to my printer’s bed was the only thing that worked and kept the print from lifting. I tried cleaning it with a window cleaner as well.
Also, why are you saying not to use it? Does it hurt the printer somehow?
Many people had the same problems in the first weeks.
I don’t recomend hairspray or glue because it’s a mess and we have a special build tak-like sticker that would be unnecessary…
Personally I don’t want to clean the hairspray after every few prints on this printer.
I’ve printed hundreds of objects without any additional adhesive agent (tried the special glue for my Ultimaker glass bed once with an old sticker but no further improvement at all).
I’ve been using my Snapmaker since early December and have never needed to apply any kind of adhesion to the bed. Heating the bed to 60 degrees and the nozzle to 210 degrees solved all of my issues.
The problem I had here was the extensive use of the printer caused the screws on the bottom of the heated bed to loosen. Once I tightened the screws the heated bed started working properly.
I’ve had the issue where dirt and other material gets on the heated bed, but a quick wipe with rubbing alcohol cleans it off nicely.
The one time I used it, the hairspray made things tacky and messy, and it scratched up as I was pulling prints off the bed. I cleaned off the hairspray with alcohol and things are working well.
My go-to adhesive for several months has been Elmer’s washable glue stick (the purple stuff that turns clear as it dries), so I continue to use it with my Snapmaker. It has an added advantage that it provides a thin layer between the bottom print layer and the bed to make removal easier. I still have to use the provided spatula for prints with large bed contact areas, but none of the laid-down filament is left behind. To get the residue off the print, just use warm water, possibly with some mild soap; I usually use a putty knife to scrape the excess residue off the bed every few prints.
