Can anyone tell me what is happening on the first layer? Ive cleaned the plate and added glue. It seems like there will be little spaghetti’s and they start interfering with the rest of the print. Using matte PLA, the bed has maybe 30-40 prints of small parts on it, machine is new. I do bed leveling each time. Filament is in the AMS and at level 2 for moisture. The first 20 prints were perfect out of the box. You can see the bigger defects in the front, but there are some smaller ones in the back too
I don’t want this to come across as wiseass-y so please forgive me if it does - sometimes this just happens. I’ve been working on small batches of OpenLOCK clips today and for some unknown reason, the same thing happened to me a couple of times.
One thing that I have noticed over time is that I find spaghetti when adjusting a downloaded STL (rather than a design of my own). Especially when filling the bed with duplicates.
Interesting. This particular print was a box primitive then “fill the bed with copies”. It has been happening with items that I have designed on my own too.
I recleaned the plate and scrubbed it real good, added glue, didnt touch it and retried the same print. It seems to be going ok. Do I have to reglue / reclean it every time now? How often do you guys do it?
I don’t ever use glue. If I make sure not to touch the plate a good cleaning will usually last for many prints. I normally go until I see the first sign of a print coming loose, then I swap it out with a clean one.
This is an excellent diagnostic technique. However, have you tried to create a single object that spans the entire print plate? The reason I ask is that often if there is let’s say a section of the build surface that is contaminated–even after cleaning–and/or let’s say the bed leveling is “off” just a smidge, a larger single first layer sheet will reveal that almost like an x-ray.
Also, try out concentric pattern instead of the default. This can produce a very homogenous flow of filament thus eliminating nozzle movement and extrusion start/stop. Think of it as like “Spiral Vase Mode” except for first layer.
Here’s how that would look. These parameters will eliminate seems and nozzle strokes caused by linear head movement.
Wall Loops = 0
Top Surface = Concentric
Top Shell Layers = 1 (this should not be needed if you set your model height to 0.50mm)
Bottom Shell Layers = 0 (This should also not be needed but it will ensure that only the top layer overrides)
Click on this twice to properly zoom in to see the layer lines.
