I have only been 3D printing for a month now but wanted to share my experiences for other people who are new to this exciting yet challenging hobby. Many of my failed prints could have been avoided had I known some of the information listed below.
After I ordered my FlashForge Dreamer I was searching the internet looking for the information. I knew I wanted to be ready to print as soon as it came in the door so I have included a initial shopping list to keep you from having to make multiple trips after Googling what went wrong with the last print.
Shopping list $15
Glass plate 9-1/4"x6-1/4"x 1/8" thick (cut free at Lowe’s) $3
Aqua net Extra super hold hair spray $4
White school glue (dollar tree 4 for $1) $1
isopropyl alcohol (70% or above) $1.5
Razor blade scraper (dollar tree 4 for $1) $1
Metal Feeler gage ( auto parts store) $3
optional Items
Filament Stands ($10ea or print you own)
Blue painters tape
Glue sticks (never needed but recommended by many people)
Glass plate Forget about even trying to print on anything else. Mine is 1/8"(3mm) thick others recommend 1/4" thick. if you use 1/4" you need to add a spacer block which activates the upper limit switch during “homing” or the extruder heads will hit the glass. With the 1/8" glass you can just turn the adjustment wing nuts to adjust for the extra thickness. I initially attached it with blue painters tape and sprayed hair spray on the tape to hold it down, thingiverse has 3mm glass holders you can print out, (2) needed front right and back left, wing nuts to attach them are included in your little tool kit box.
Aqua net Extra super hold hair spray I use this on PLA, ABS, TPU, and Wood. just spray it on the glass while the bed and extruder is heating up. Doesn’t seem to matter if it is wet or dry it still sticks. Have patients when ABS prints are done, just let it cool down slowly, and it will release easily when it reaches 50-60C
White school glue This is used to save prints that start to curl up. If you see the edges coming up just put a glob around the edges but not over the top of the print. I have only needed to use this trick once since I switched to the glass plate, and about 5 times on the blue tape that came on the bed.
Isopropyl alcohol Used to clean hair spray off of the glass. Hot water works but takes longer. Don’t worry about getting it completely clean every time just knock the rough parts off and do a through cleaning when the hair spray build up gets thick.
Razor blade scraper Great for removing the little extruder cleaning run that it prints around the part at the start of the print also good for removing thin parts and scraping excess hair spray off the glass build plate.
Metal Feeler gage Much better than the plastic gage sheet the comes with the dreamer (which will melt if you get in a hurry and level the bed after loading filament and the extruder is still hot… trust me). I use the .004 thick with the sharp edge up which helps to remove any filament sticking out of the extruder, I normally check both heads first to make sure filament on the one I will not be using is not holding the plate down.
Filament Stands If you plan on using any other filament like hatchbox (my preferred) then it will not fit inside the housing and will need to be on the table beside or the wall behind the printer. The dreamer comes with two little guide tubes which you can run through the side vents. My original one is 3/4" PVC pipe (2) 90s (2)"T"s (4) end caps. I am presently using wall mounts behind and above the dreamer.
Blue painters tape Recommended for printing PLA but I have had great success just using the glass plate and hair spray. It is also good, as stated above, to attach the glass to the build plate, the back left piece needs to be about 1.5" from the left edge to allow room for leveling the bed. I listed this as optional because for my use masking tape or clear wrapping tape should work just as well.
Glue sticks Are Recommended by others to use while printing PLA by smearing it on the build plate to make it stick. while they are setting in my drawer I have never actually tried it myself.
General information
Build area X=9.06"230mm(left to right) Y=5.52"140mm(front to back) Z=5.9" 150mm(height)
My FF Dreamer came from Amazon With the Clear door, Red PLA and White ABS Filament.
Initial temperature settings(machines vary from one to another so this is just what works best for mine)
Extruder(range) Bed(range)
PLA 200°C (160-220) 50°C(off-60)
ABS 220°C (210-250) 95°C(80-105)
TPU (flex) 200°C (200-220) 40°C (30-50)
PLA Glow in the dark 190°C 30°C
ABS Translucent(“clear”) 210°C 95°C
Other recommendations
Level the build plate on every print especially on large prints or if you had to put any pressure at all on the build pate to remove your last print. For your first 15-20 prints you should Level it every single time just to eliminate that as being the cause of failed prints.
Small parts are difficult to print in ABS I have has good results by dropping the temperature and slowing the print speed down.
If printing with TPU(Flexible filament) mount the filament above the printer with the top off so it has as little friction as possible. I am having success without any modifications to the extruder head.
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Feb '16last reply
May '16- 10
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