Newbie question

#1

Hi everyone!

I have just received my Zim, finally :slight_smile:

I am a newbie in 3d printing and wonder if fellow user could lend me a helping hand. I have read almost every comments within this forum and notice the following tips:

  1. Use blue painter tape instead of the provided glue
  2. Set extruder temp to 190C instead of the default 180C
  3. Probably use a spooler to feed the filament instead of using the inbuilt mechanism (this require printing the holder?)
  4. Others (Dual extruder height adjustment, how to level the printing plate, use a different kind of printing plate, etc)

Honestly I don’t quite understand how to level the plate even after reading the manual. The method suggested there isn’t that precise. How do I know if I could feel a small resistance of the paper against the nozzle yet it should barely scratch the paper!?

Thanks in advance! Good luck 3d printing!

Regards

#2

Hi LMaker, here’s my findings, for what it is worth:

  1. Use blue painter tape - Depends. Some models definitely benefit from blue painters tape, and you can often print multiple times without reapplying the tape, plus no cleanup. That being said, I’ve had better luck with glue than tape in some cases. As long as the glue was wet when the first filament went down, it usually adhered better for me. Especially when the item is boxy, thick walls, or long, it tends to peel up on the edges without glue. Getting the bigger sticks of purple from the store, some say the stuff from office supply stores is better than the “school” variety. Some people swear by BuildTak or other specialty surfaces. I haven’t tried these.
  2. Yes, 190C works better for me. You can set the defaults to always use this temperature in the cartridge menus (the left/right menus, not the main screen menu).
  3. Spool feeding directly to the head through a short length of teflon tube is the only way to go. Abandon the cartridge system as early as you can, but you can at least get away with printing the spool parts and some other stuff using the cartridge system.
  4. Leveling the plate is a ballpark process. I learn more watching the first layer go down than I do using the paper. I find it works well when the first filament is just squishing against the surface on the first pass without dropping down too much from the nozzle, otherwise it won’t adhere well and you can see it lifting in spots (you will know what I mean as soon as you observe a couple of prints). I usually tweak the thumbscrews while the first layer perimeter is going down. You can remove and replace the plate and it will be pretty close on the following prints (within hand tweaking range while it’s printing again), which is handy if using glue.

Have fun!

#3

Thanks, jpod. I will try your suggestions.

#4

  1. I’ve been using the blue painter tape and was having issues with filament sticking to it. Using the glue on the tape has worked well for me. For additional prints, it seems just wiping the plate (with tape) with a wet rag reactivates the glue enough for a few more prints. Also I’ve noticed when the filament has been feeding for a while, it’ll get more sticky. This kind of explains when cancelling a print and restarting it, it starts to stick…

  2. I’ve been using a temp of 200C. Based on experience with an Ultimaker 1.

  3. Manually feeding the filament has been working fine for me. (You’ll need a holder at first - I removed the tube from the cartridge system and routed out to the back of printer.)

  4. Leveling can be challenging. I ran the leveling procedure for each point. I had it set so there was a heavy drag on the paper, but not enough to move the paper when the heads move. (This had to be done multiple time, since adjusting one affects the other.) Once I was okay with the leveling and do prints, I try to notice on the first pass how the filament is coming out. Then adjust the appropriate stand. It eventually stables out.

Hope this helps.