I have a makerbot replicator 1 and I cant figure out how to fix the prints for my life. I made it much better by updating the firmware and software but the prints still come out bad. On all prints I used makerbot brand PLA. The printer wouldn’t even print the regular yoda and I had to find a low poly version of it. These prints were found on thnkercad and thingiverse and printed with makerbot print. I would take any and all help given to me, Thanks in advance.
Could you list the settings your using on your machine?
Are these printed on a raft? If not your nozzle is too far away from the bed it looks like
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Need specs. Temps, speeds, slicer etc.
it seems as if the first layer is too far from the ground. try lowering it.
if it is already on the bed. u may want to add a raft to your prints. that way the extruder will fill up/clean the nozzle and make sure the first is nice and even spread on the bed.
hope this helps!
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Ok, if all the stringing is the bottom of prints I’d say there is too much gap between the bed and nozzle. Level and get the gap set right.
Temp seems ok what is the bed temp or is it not heated?
I see travel speed but what about printing speed? I’d target somewhere around 2000mm/min base and 50% of that for the first layer.
Fan off for first layer then on full after that. Work on some calibration cubes 20X20X10 to get the settings dialed in.
I’m using default makerbot standard settings.
Temp - 215 C
travel speed - 150 mm/s
Z-axis Travel speed - 23 mm/s
Use active cooling - true
Fan power - 50% Max Power
Fan Layer - 1
minimum layer duration 5.0 s
I turned my rafts off because when I printed I had the raft stick to my prints and I couldn’t get them off with pliers. The sides hanging off would just snap off. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to show of this. I didn’t use anything other than the makerbot desktop app and the downloaded files on tinkercad. I did not make these and do not own them but here are the links for them spinner-fidget and fidget-spinner Thanks for all the help already given!
May I ask how do I get the gap set right?
I do not have a heated bed.
I had the settings at 30mm/s for the first layer & raft. The floor surface fills, infills, and insets are all set to 90mm/s. Bridges are at 40mm/s. Outlines are at 20mm/s. Raft base is at 10mm/s.
I tried running a calibration cube but my printer wont run g-code for some odd reason. I use this printer at school and I could print 10 cubes but it would take days because I am not always here.
For leveling try this page out for some info.
http://makerbot.wikia.com/wiki/Build\_Platform\_Levelling
I might go 20 for first layer. Slow is generally good.
90 is way to fast I think especially when trying to get things dialed in. Try about 35-40 for general print speed.
Outline is ok.
I believe the printer needs X3G file which is converted gcode. You can run the gcode through the makerbot software and it should be able to generate the X3G file.
No heated bed is ok for PLA. I would suggest googling or checking a makerbot area to see what is recommended for preparing the bed. Could be blue painters tape and glue stick.
If the software will do it you can go hotter on the first layer to help get the material to stick then drop the temp a little after that.
Biggest thing I think is getting a good bed level and slowing down.
It is all doable! Just one step at a time and you’ll get there.
ok so I got back to the 3d printer and even with a raft on the left is the one with a raft and on the right is without. Would the bottom be considered normal? I wont be able to see your response till tomorrow because the school bell just rang.
The nozzle is set too far from the bed. I have a Makerbot Replicator 2 so not sure if your menus are the same, but in the Utilities menu, there is a “Bed Leveling” option. Go into this and set the gap to be the thickness of a sheet of paper. The other thing to improve the first layer is to use some blue painters tape. The rest of the print is good, after you fix the first layer.
I would say the one on the right needs to have the gap between the bed and nozzle reduced more. It takes time to get the hang of!! I fight it all the time!
The one on the left is ok if using a raft.
Keep at it and you’ll get there. It can be frustrating but when you get it the o boy!! You can try and watch it very closely as it prints and try to see and understand what is going on. I get right in there with a flashlight at times to try and really see what is happening.
Hyer.
I agree with the others that your first layer looks too far from the bed. I would if you can heat the bed to around 45 as well.
Also the rest of the prints look like you are under extruding. I have found that this can happen if the print temp is too low. Just because you are being told that it is at 215 might not be true. Try increasing the temp by 5 each time till you get a better print.
I have found that PLA from different sources will need diff temps (even colour of PLA can make a diff).
Regards
Dave
