Filament tears suddenly when printing first layer
Hi
When printing the first layer, it seems like the filament suddenly tears. As seen in the images below it starts off going pretty well and then at some point there are holes an uneven filament. It seems to happen at different points during the print. I'm using PETG with nozzle temp 230 degrees celsius and bed temp at 85 degrees celsius. I'm using the textured steel sheet, which was recently washed.
Is it a Z calibration issue? I think it can be difficult to see if it is too low / high. Has anyone had similar issues?
RE: Filament tears suddenly when printing first layer
One often-overlooked item is that the textured plate needs a Z calibration factor that is almost always lower than that used for the smooth build plate. If you have not done so already, you will need to do a separate Z calibration for the textured build plate.
I've also found that Z calibration is more critical for the textured plate than for the smooth plate. Attention to detail is necessary for consistently good prints on the textured plate.
I've found that the sweet spot for Z calibration on the textured plate is where the underside of the 'flag' on the internal test print shows that the 'brush strokes' of the filament extrusion just blend in to the textured pattern.
For PETg on the textured build plate, I would suggest using something like Layerneer, both as an adhesion booster and as a release agent. This assures an even and solid lay-down of the first layer, and a clean release without damage or excessive wear to the powder coating.
Read @jsw above but the size and placement of your poor adhesion spots look remarkably like a set of fingerprints ... scrupulously clean print sheets are fundamental to good first layers.
Cheerio,
RE: Filament tears suddenly when printing first layer
Thank you both for the suggestions.
I tried to recalibrate Z with the @jsw 's advise in mind. I also cleaned the sheet and made sure to not touch anything like @diem suggested.
Now I get a very nice first layer, but from layer 2 and upwards I'm having problems. I'm not sure exactly what happens, but it seems a lot of plastic gets stuck on/around the nozzle instead of sticking to the first layer. I'm attaching two images showing both sides of the print, so you can see the nice first layer and the not-so-nice other layers.
RE: Filament tears suddenly when printing first layer
Did you figure out how to solve it?