Handy 3d prints for the workshop

[Onoff]

put something around/over the printer as an enclosure, to keep the heat in

before you start printing put the bed on arming up and give it 20 or 30min to warm everything up a bit

I've only ever printed in ABS, heat makes a hell of a difference

had my bed temp set to 110'C too (bed temp sensors are notoriously inaccurate anyway)

You have the bed at 110degC for the duration of the print?

We had a box around it but there was a gap where the join was lifted for the mains cable to go through. Do you think that's an issue?

How "sealed" can the box be? I'd worry about overheating the actual printer's components and circuitry. Did think to drill a hole for the mains cable and mastic round it, then duct tape the box join.

Do you use anything on the bed to promote adhesion?

I've read suggesting to take the bed off before using hairspray as otherwise over spray can gum up moving parts over time.

 

[knighty]

yeah I'm 110'C for the full print

that box should be more than good enough

check the bed is good and level? - do some level test prints

 

[Onoff]

As aforementioned we've zero experience printing with ABS here. I've made up two jars of ABS slurry in the absence of pure acetone, with foam gun cleaner and then thinners, both listing acetone as the first ingredient. In both cases I think the results aren't "smooth" enough to coat the bed without the remaining, undissolved ABS fibres being thicker than the first layer and affecting the print. Can't figure why if they started dissolving the ABS why it hasn't continued. In both cases the ABS was scrap print material. That has therefore been heated & cooled. I wonder if fresh ABS off of the reel would work better?

Foam Gun Cleaner:



LIDL Baufix Thinners:





If anything the foam gun cleaner (first picture) looks to have finer "bits" in. The Baufix thinners one seems to have some long strands in there.

What does your slurry look like?

 

[knighty]

I've never used slurry myself.... pour some of the thin liquid off the top of there and see what it sets like ?

 

[ukracer]

@ukracer have you got another plate clamped to your bed as in an add on?

Also your slurry, has it got bits in or is it smooth? If bits then could they not be higher than the first layer?

Failure on the ABS with no adhesion promoter...and then some!

My lad thought that printing ABS without any adhesion promoter would work if he enclosed the printer and printed a sacrificial shield encircling the print. Lesson learnt!

It moved:



It warped:



Despite printing a sacrificial "heat shield" around it:



This was the first layer, you can see how the "hole" didn't adhere:



It has potential though, nice tight layers:



It won't go to waste though. It'll get chopped up to make ABS slurry. Using foam gun cleaner "contains acetone" and it's taking an age to dissolve the ABS. Just tried Lidl's Baufix thinners, first ingredient acetone and that's dissolving it a treat.

Ok a few things.

IMHO You will stand a better chance of it working if you use Nail varnish remover although it's not ideal. You can get acetone in a litre bottle of Amazon.

I only use pure abs filament to create the slurry. Not steadytech ABS pro.

It does look as if adhesion of the 1st layer is your problem. Either slurry not working or not enough squish. I would guess it's the slurry.

I will email you the profile I use,

 

[ukracer]

@ukracer have you got another plate clamped to your bed as in an add on?

Also your slurry, has it got bits in or is it smooth? If bits then could they not be higher than the first layer?

Failure on the ABS with no adhesion promoter...and then some!

My lad thought that printing ABS without any adhesion promoter would work if he enclosed the printer and printed a sacrificial shield encircling the print. Lesson learnt!

It moved:



It warped:



Despite printing a sacrificial "heat shield" around it:



This was the first layer, you can see how the "hole" didn't adhere:



It has potential though, nice tight layers:



It won't go to waste though. It'll get chopped up to make ABS slurry. Using foam gun cleaner "contains acetone" and it's taking an age to dissolve the ABS. Just tried Lidl's Baufix thinners, first ingredient acetone and that's dissolving it a treat.

Yes I do have mirror glass on that printer. Clipped on so it can be washed easily. Actually I have two for each machine (except ender3) so I can just remove glass with print and start printing immediately on new glass.

 

[Onoff]

Ok a few things.

IMHO You will stand a better chance of it working if you use Nail varnish remover although it's not ideal. You can get acetone in a litre bottle of Amazon.

I only use pure abs filament to create the slurry. Not steadytech ABS pro.

It does look as if adhesion of the 1st layer is your problem. Either slurry not working or not enough squish. I would guess it's the slurry.

I will email you the profile I use,

Thanks

You misunderstand, he printed with no slurry whatsoever.

I've no normal ABS....wonder if I shaved an ABS soil pipe with a kitchen grater...

 

[Onoff]

Yes I do have mirror glass on that printer. Clipped on so it can be washed easily. Actually I have two for each machine (except ender3) so I can just remove glass with print and start printing immediately on new glass.

And you don't need to re level the bed when you take the glass off / refit?

 

[ukracer]

And you don't need to re level the bed when you take the glass off / refit?

Nope. It works fine.

 

[ukracer]

Thanks

You misunderstand, he printed with no slurry whatsoever.

I've no normal ABS....wonder if I shaved an ABS soil pipe with a kitchen grater...

Ah so you not used the slurry yet.
Just try the one that has melted the best. Use a paint brush to coat the bed.
I used a folder up piece of kitchen roll on my first application just wiping it on..

Start the print and then see how it sticks. If it warps just don't continue.

 

[Onoff]

Sometimes I'm so stupid...

Found some grey pipe and proceeded to grate it with the kitchen grater.

Added it to some Baufix thinners and it started dissolving pretty quick. All looked good.

Then realised the pipe is PVC-U.....

 

[tflnemesis]

Hairspray is a good bed adhesive, I was using it for over a year before I switched to ABS slurry. I make my slurry with all the waste from my prints and pure acetone I bought in bulk from amazon a while ago.

I bought bulk acetone because I also use it to vapour smooth ABS prints, it has lasted a lot longer than i thought, I bought 10L early last year and still have just under half of it left.

Pure acetone will cause the ABS to disolve fully although left over time it will settle out some, a quick shake before use and its fine.

 

[Onoff]

Going to try and grate a black ABS plumbing fitting to make slurry. They are solvent weld.

 

[ukracer]

Going to try and grate a black ABS plumbing fitting to make slurry. They are solvent weld.

I honestly don't think it will be a problem using the ABS Pro to dissolve. It's just that I have never tried it. I will drop you a few metres of white ABS in the post if you email me your address though.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0jdd18akk7qikch/VID_20200426_125806.mp4?dl=0

 

[Onoff]

Grated ABS, solvent weld pipe fittings seemed to dissolve pretty well in LIDL Baufix thinners into a slurry. Painted it on a crafty corner of the black glass patio table and it dried to a film. By Christ has it stuck. You can barely scrape it off with your nail. Neat IPA takes it off OK.

So then tried it on a corner of the Anycubic i3 Mega S. The bed is glass but with a coating of some sort with tiny holes in. Gets good reports for adhesion.

The ABS slurry seems to have filled the holes in the bed coating. It's a pig to get off. This is AFTER cleaning with IPA.

Can't take this bed off seemingly. Undid the corner clips but it wouldn't budge. Any ideas?

Don't really want to put slurry on the whole bed or hairspray. Is it that I can get an "over bed" to go atop this one I wonder?

 

[tflnemesis]

I have the same glass on my anet A8, it will be stuck down, mine had double sided tape all over one side.

 

[ukracer]

Grated ABS, solvent weld pipe fittings seemed to dissolve pretty well in LIDL Baufix thinners into a slurry. Painted it on a crafty corner of the black glass patio table and it dried to a film. By Christ has it stuck. You can barely scrape it off with your nail. Neat IPA takes it off OK.

View attachment 226307

So then tried it on a corner of the Anycubic i3 Mega S. The bed is glass but with a coating of some sort with tiny holes in. Gets good reports for adhesion.

The ABS slurry seems to have filled the holes in the bed coating. It's a pig to get off. This is AFTER cleaning with IPA.

View attachment 226308

Can't take this bed off seemingly. Undid the corner clips but it wouldn't budge. Any ideas?

Don't really want to put slurry on the whole bed or hairspray. Is it that I can get an "over bed" to go atop this one I wonder?

II could be wrong but I prefer the bed not being glued or stuck down to the heater as I feel its gets hotter. Of course the temp at the thermistor is not that on the top of the glass which is a big reason why one persons printers needs a different temp for the same PLA for example.
If it was me I would get a stanley knife and try and prize it off but it could crack and leave you with no bed.. The other side should be flat glass..

 

[Onoff]

I'm looking to make an enclosure for this printer. I can knock one up in timber with a "glass" front/door or I've some nice brass angle I figure might make a fish tank esque one. Ideally I'd like to have the printer inside and print smelly stuff like ABS.

I'm lost though as to how "airtight" the box needs to be, if at all.

Maybe on castors and tall with a storage cabinet below.

Or should it be vented (to the outside) to get rid of the smells? Then though will I be venting heat I want to retain for printing ABS? Maybe some sort of integral charcoal filter?

Printing in a hot box, is it detrimental to the printer's electronics?

Should the spool be mounted externally through a feeder tube?

So many newbie questions I appreciate! Any pointers appreciated.

 

[tflnemesis]

I have my printer venting to the outside, I just used some cheap draught excluder around the door.
It is by no means airtight but a 120mm computer fan seems to take care of any smell.

I did extend all the wires from the printer so that the PSU, Mainboard and Mosfets are all fixed on the outside of the enclosure, the only electronics apart from the motors inside the enclosure is a Pi-cam so I can monitor it remotely.

Even with the exhaust fan the air temp in the enclosure can reach 45c.

My filament is mounted on the top passing through a small hole, don't know if this is needed but as it was easy to do I did it.

For the main filaments you use the 'Glass' temperature starts around 75-80c for PLA, higher for nearly all other filaments.

 

[Onoff]

Looking to make an enclosure for the 3D printer. Probably on castors and likely with a pc fan at the back for fume extract to a window for when printing ABS. It'll in effect be two 600mm cubes. Top one for the printer and the lower one shelved out for storage.

Plan for the top is to have a vertically sliding clear panel. This will nominally be 600x600. Not sure what to use, acrylic, polycarbonate etc. Also what thickness? Any thoughts? Cheers.