Why is this happening (all of a sudden, twice so far)?
Hi, All. My Mini+ was doing great, until today it wasn't. Nothing was sticking to the build plate (PETG, PLA), and the extruder was causing blobs and inconsistent extrusions which led to printed lines being dragged and melted further. I did cold-pulls, first-layer re-calibrations, checked the Super-PINDA height. I've experimented by slowing down print settings which seemed to help, until it didn't.
Pics are of the print in progress--looking great. Then, one object getting dragged with a blob attached.
Not sure what to do next or why this is happening. This particular print failed twice at about the same point in the print.
RE: Why is this happening (all of a sudden, twice so far)?
This is often caused by the bed being greasy.
Make the bed free of grease with soap and water.
Then try the print again.
RE: Why is this happening (all of a sudden, twice so far)?
As Rene said, clean the sheet with lots of hot water and fragrant free dish washing soap. Then use 91+% IPA between prints. I would also check my heater block and nozzle for any debris stuck to it and use a soft brass brush to clean.
Formerly known on this forum as @fuchsr -- until all hell broke loose with the forum software...
RE: Why is this happening (all of a sudden, twice so far)?
Thank you for the reply. I was cleaning the plate with 70% isopropyl, but maybe I need the 90% to cut through any grease. I’m about 90% of the way through the print again, but this time I added a brim (not preferred).
I’m not sure what is causing these nicks in the perimeter, an additive factor that leads to blobs:
RE: Why is this happening (all of a sudden, twice so far)?
I will try the dishwashing soap cleaning as well. Saw something on YouTube today about using soap—I would never have thought that necessary, but maybe there is a lingering film that needs to be stripped off. I have cleaned everything—twice—with a wire brush, but something is still causing nicks in the first few layers but not on subsequent layers.
RE: Why is this happening (all of a sudden, twice so far)?
Dishwashing soap/washing up liquid cleans of grease and oil that comes from parts, tools, and hands as well as glue. IPA wipes are good if you just want to give it a quick wipe over when you know that it is pretty clean all ready but just want to get rid a bit of dust, etc.
An incorrect Live-Z value can cause this as if the nozzle is just a bit to close to the bed it can snag the end of a filament run, heat up and the already laid down filament and cause it to curl a bit then snag it on the next pass. Also any little dings and bumps in the sheet can cause the ends to lift just enough to get snagged as well, and if the nozzle tip is too close to the sheet it may push the extruding filament too the side a a little and it sticks to the nozzle and this causes the filamnet to start curling upwards as it extrudes and you end up with a blob of death
RE: Why is this happening (all of a sudden, twice so far)?
I have played with the Z height quite a bit today when all this non-sticking started. I had to get closer to the bed to ensure first layer adhesion, then backed it off after seeing the snags. I raised the bed temp by 10 degrees to see if I could find a compromise to help with adhesion. Too many factors now to know what's causing what at this point, but it started with prints suddenly not sticking to the plate as they were yesterday.