Ok I see what’s your problem now. I can assure you that once you get it properly calibrated using the auto-calibration the rafts will peel off like it should.
What you are experiencing are the terrible thumb screws. You could either replace them but here’s a temporary fix. During calibration of the front screw, push down the plate gently while applying minimal pressure to turn the front thumb screw. You will notice once the plate is slightly depressed, the thumb screw can turn. Follow the instructions on the screen as to how much to turn. Like I said this is a temporary fix but I have been doing this for 9 months already Procrastination at its finest
Sounds like a good fix. I will try your method during auto-calibration - thanks for all your help and suggestions!
On a side note, do you know if the direction the parts are facing has an impact on how they will turn out? For instance, when I try to print the Marvin’s, if they face the front door of the Zortrax, there is a slight burning on the top left of the face. I printed one by itself and noticed a slight warp and then decided to print two together and the burn became more noticeable. I am thinking maybe because the fan isn’t able to reach this corner? I guess I read that printing two parts together can help with cooling.
I tried depressing plate while screwing and the screw just won’t budge. I think there’s something just not right with the thumb screw. The back two move just fine and when I manually calibrate with a business card, I can see the resistance increased or decreased when I tighten or loosen them, but the from screw doesn’t do anything either way.
Once the plate is off, I can see the front screw takes an allan wrench. I’m not sure what to expect when I take it apart. And even if I do take it apart, I’m not sure what will come of it.
Yes you are right, it is better to let them face right where the fan is. There are mods out there to give you a dual fan set up from both sides which can be helpful in some prints.
About burn marks… There are two types. One is the nozzle burning the print, another is accumulated gunk on the nozzle which turns brown and then get dragged onto your prints. In some cases it’s good to pause the print (hold down the knob for around 5 seconds) and clean the nozzle. During unpause the nozzle will purge once more, clean it with tweezers and click on the knob again.
Printing two pieces leaves some extra time to cool after each layer so bridging will sometimes have better results.
Do you mean you can’t turn the front thumb screw because it’s stuck? Or you can turn it but the build plate doesn’t move up and down? This is an important distinction.
Don’t worry the 3D printer looks like a complicated machine when you’ve never taken it apart before. The M200 is quite well designed so you can put it back together easily. The screws and thumb screws can be replaced easily.
If you can’t even turn the thumb screw then you should definitely contact your reseller and get them to resolve it as it may be a manufacturing defect. If the build plate is not calibrated correctly, the prints will not be optimal as they should be. It is quite sensitive as you are talking about layer heights of a 10th of a millimetre.
this blurry gif is what I meant by “depressing the plate”. More like pinching it together, this relieves the pressure on the thumb screw and you should be able to completely unscrew the thumb nut. If that’s possible it means you can use this way (temporarily) with gloves during the calibration to move the thumb screw up and down.
Worst case scenario is that you cannot pinch the plate down as the screw is fully compressed already.
Procrastination at its finest
