Wanhao Duplicator i3 initial nozzle wipe issue

Jporter · 2017-11-04T12:05:55.000Z

Hi all,

I have been buying no-name pla from ebay just to get a cheap set of colours to play around with.

I recently got a reel of yellow pla and the default wanhao cura at the start of a print dopes a dot at 0,0 to wipe off the filament ready to print.

This yellow filament doesn’t stick to the PEI sheet like other filaments do and doesn’t stick at all for the print just leaving me with balls of gunk as it wraps around the nozzle.

I’ve re leveled z every time i trey to print, tried printing at 195 and 205 on a heated bed at 40

Any thoughts as to what I can do?

Chucka29 · 2017-11-05T04:17:04.000Z

Hi Jporter That’s strange… My initial suggestion was going to be to check your Z but you’ve done that already… I always print with a skirt to try and get rid of blobs around the nozzle before it starts the actual print so maybe you can try that. I also use 210C on the extruder and 60C on the bed for pretty much every PLA I’ve had and I haven’t had many issues with poor adhesion. Any times I did get poor adhesion were mostly caused by dust on the bed so I would keep an eye out for that as well. Sidenote: Try the latest Cura. It’s a bit daunting because it’s got so much more settings than the Wanhao edition Cura but it’ll open you up with so much more flexibility in tweaking your prints:) -Chucka

Stephen_Jones · 2017-11-05T06:26:52.000Z

buy quality filament. it sounds like you will never get a decent print with this pla, some made for 3d pens not suitable for 3d printing machines. StevetheBuddistXXX

Stephen_Jones · 2017-11-05T06:29:11.000Z

buy quality filament. it sounds like you will never get a decent print with this pla, some made for 3d pens not suitable for 3d printing machines. StevetheBuddistXXX

Jporter · 2017-11-05T12:31:37.000Z

I’ve kind of been leaning to the idea of its just garbage PLA, its not for 3d pens and the other spools from this seller are fine and print great.

Really annoying but in the UK its not that easy to get decent quality branded pla for less than ~£35 with shipping.

Thanks for your input, looks like your probably right :(.

Jporter · 2017-11-05T12:34:16.000Z

At the moment I’m printing mechanical keycaps so due to the tiny print area I need to use rafts, the issue is it doesn’t seem to stick at all so even a skirt most likely wouldn’t do any good.

I’ll try upping the bed temp, see if that does anything, I do make sure to wipe down and clean my bed every print as I know hand oils can cause issues with adhesion.

I’ll play with Cura see if I can figure anything out.

Thanks.

Stephen_Jones · 2017-11-05T13:24:48.000Z

if you think that “oily” bed is the prob use cheap hairspray from the pound shop but make sure its the extra hold stuff, that just means its not got conditioners in. heat bed to 250 turn of heating and when bed about 100 look at your conole spray all over a single fine coat. leave to cool. heat bed to ptint temp and give very fine spray local to where print to be sited. your “wipe” should leave a small post at 0 ref and then string out a thin strand to the first print contact point. it is this that should stabilise your skirt ,raft or straight to print. if this is not stable when laying your first trellis then dont boter waiting to see if it sticks. it wont and you will just gum up your nozzle. all this is presuposing you have leveled your bed exactly and your z bar traverse isnt that far out that you dont notice the 1 inch gap at top right i always spirit level work base, machine y beams, z axis carrier and finally table, before i even attempt to use cura bed leveling wizard. i think the message is , try the practical stuff first before working out the therma phnumonics of your printer. and dont give up, weve all been there. if all else fails, buy one of my machines, thats why i make em, and i am in the UK BTW. Good luck. StevetheBuddistXXX

Stephen_Jones · 2017-11-05T13:28:00.000Z

oh yes try “clarify” pla’s if i havent bought all thier stocks out, never had a problem with there plas, if you think that somethings been spilt on your filanent, bin it. its not worth the hassle and costs of new nozzles.

Chucka29 · 2017-11-05T13:34:19.000Z

Best of luck:) Is there an eSun filament distributor in the UK? I’ve used quite a bit of their PLA and the quality is great for a very reasonable price

benwfowler · 2017-11-05T23:38:48.000Z

Try 3DPrintWorks PLA. It’s cheap and good quality. Made in the UK too

Ben

zuari1993 · 2017-11-06T05:57:04.000Z

Having a wanhao Duplicator myself I have faced similar problems as you mentioned, try the following.

Start of by decreasing the height between your nozzle and and bed such that the PLA coming out of the nozzle is barely visible, Sometimes it may even scratch your masking tape but thats ok, while printing the first layer slightly push your bed down and check if the filament is flowing. Once the second layer starts printing, the filament will be clearly visible and it will stick to the bed very well.

Also for PLA keep the Bed temp at 60 C slightly higher than the glass transition temp for PLA.

This has worked for me so far, let me know how it goes for you.

steveprinters29 · 2017-11-09T10:24:19.000Z

Wanhao duplicators suffer serious troubles when they find the quality of the printing material to be inadequate. The best you could do is choose good quality filaments and ensure that they are heated to an optimum temperature.

steveprinters29 · 2017-11-13T05:23:37.000Z

Wanhao duplicators suffer serious troubles when they find the quality of the printing material to be inadequate. The best you could do is choose good quality filaments and ensure that they are heated to an optimum temperature.