Enjoyed peeling this away from my nozzle...  

RE: Enjoyed peeling this away from my nozzle...

Best advice, from experience, is keep an eye on the printer.

It looks like your print broke away from the build plate.  Be sure that your plate is truly clean.  It's tempting to simply launch another print immediately after finishing one, but care needs to be taken to be sure the new print will stick.  A simple fingerprint can cause just this.

RE: Enjoyed peeling this away from my nozzle...

You got lucky. That's minor as far as Blob-of-Doom mishaps go. It's not uncommon to have extruder part damage and hours of cleanup. In addition to the advice to keep the bed clean -- which explains why it "went bad" -- be sure to get a good Live-Z calibration. 

I believe they are starting to sell silicone socks to help protect the heater block against filament build up. I find them lifesavers on my printers.

RE: Enjoyed peeling this away from my nozzle...

@jsw @bobstro

Thank you - I have been wiping down the smooth sheet with IPA between prints but maybe I missed a spot, or perhaps it was just a glitch in the extrusion.  I am officially 4 days into my 3D printing (completed my Mk3 kit Saturday morning by 4:30 am).  I do agree I need to watch for failures and now have a camera trained on the printer so I can check on it periodically.

Bob, I just ordered a set of the socks and am looking forward to seeing how much of a difference they make.  Hopefully they will help keep small blobs from turning into massive ones.

I appreciate the feedback and looking forward to contributing to the forum!

-R

RE: Enjoyed peeling this away from my nozzle...

There are lots of threads on bed adhesion. Be sure to read up on them. The single best thing you can do to prep the bed is a dunk under the sink with plain Dawn dish soap. Scrub it with a clean plain paper towel and dry it with another. Do nothing else to prep the bed, then calibrate your Live-Z using Jeff Jordan's "Life Adjust" procedure. Repeat as necessary whenever adhesion starts to weaken, or before lengthy prints.

Good luck and have fun with it!

RE: Enjoyed peeling this away from my nozzle...

Yeah - alcohol is quite good at spreading fingerprints around the sheet unless you are an expert at using an ounce of alcohol and a fresh microfiber cloth each clean. A dash on a paper towel and a few wipes do nothing to clean the sheet. Soap and hot water works best, and I use soap and water after I use alcohol or acetone when I need to remove plastic residue.

RE: Enjoyed peeling this away from my nozzle...

A new pei sheet does not stick as a older one.

Clean the sheet with dish soap, clean a few times with hot water(new plate), then clean with dish soap every few prints.

If you have to print prints that need very good sticking to the bed, clean with dish soap.(big flat prints or model with small footprint to the bed.)

Every finger on the bed, will reduce the sticking, so do not touch the bed. Oil from your hand will destroy sticking.

If you use alcohol, use a lot.

To prevent the big ball of death,

1. first layer needs to be 100%(learn this very good is important).

2. A clean bed.

RE: Enjoyed peeling this away from my nozzle...

Posted by: @ralph-1

Any ideas how to prevent this?   This was after five successful prints of the identical piece.   

   - Ralph / San Diego, CA

Ralph: Can I use this photo in a blog post?  

RE: Enjoyed peeling this away from my nozzle...

@cwbullet

Absolutely - thank you for asking 🙂

RE: Enjoyed peeling this away from my nozzle...

I like saving photos for articles on printing disasters.  I try to ask before using them.  I will give you a footnote.