3DPrinting

15540 readers

111 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: [email protected] or [email protected]

There are CAD communities available at: [email protected] or [email protected]

Rules

No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing
Do not create links to reddit
If you see an issue please flag it
No guns
No injury gore posts

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

What's causing this pattern on my first layer? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

25 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm printing with PLA on a "PEO" print bed (really a textured PEI), on my heavily modified ender 3, and there's a pattern on the bottom of my first layer that I'm trying to get rid of. The top of the first layer looks fine, and changing the z offset in either direction doesn't help. I've also tried slowing down the print speed because I thought the extruder might be skipping, but I'm still seeing it at 10mm/s. Any idea what could be causing it, and how to get rid of it?

Pic: https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/31cd6cef-16de-47b3-995f-197f7d0b432d.jpeg

Edit: the first layer went down from the bottom left to the top right, but the pattern I'm seeing is perpendicular to the extruder path

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It's hot - 60 bed, 220 nozzle. I'll try 40/200

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I'd suggest taking it down to 210, 215. a bed at 60 should be normal. If you have one take an IR thermometer and read off a sheet of paper (or a 1-layer print. the thermometers aren't so good at reading glossy surfaces.) IIRC, for most PLA's the glass transition temperature is around 70 so 60 should be right there.

Glass transition is where the plastic begins to soften and be bendable/moldable.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

40/200 looks the same as 60/220. I can try 60/210 but I don't think it will be any different.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I tried printing a disk with the bed at 70c and it looks better. Going to try with it even higher. This sheet has a +0.350 z offset compared to my normal PEI sheet, so that might contribute to low heat conduction.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Careful. Too high and you will get failed prints. (Somewhere around the glass transition temp,)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

For PETG that's not that hot. On my i3 clone I was usually 70 bed and 230-235 nozzle. I would try a temp tower and do what looks best. Based on what you've said so far, temp does seem like a possible culprit.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This is PLA, I can't get PETG to stick to the "PEO" bed plate.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Ah, sorry. That does sound a bit hot for PLA. I still suggest a temp tower. If you're having bed adhesion issues, have you cleaned your bed with dish soap lately? Be sure to use only paper towel to clean/dry it - not a sponge or towel. If that's impractical, I've found Windex to work better than IPA.