taz 4 help/suggestions

[billyd]

I'm slowly bumping the speeds up... I'm at 5000mm/m for print speeds and 6000mm/m for X/Y Moves.

The attached profile is for Lulzbot / Esun Black ABS. It implements a skirt and has an Z-axis offset of .1. The skirt primes the extruder prior to actual print. The offset is a tweak to help with project removal after print. Still working with the hotend/heatbed temps along with the variable cooling... but the prints come out great. Make sure to pre-heat, the profile does not wait until hotend or bed get to temp before starting.

Hope it works for you.

EDIT: I also wanted to mention that I really only use the slicer. Once I've got the g-code, I upload to octoprint for printing. Again, works great, 90% of the prints on my TAZ5 have been "unattended". Heat the bed to 100C, hotend to 240C, home XYZ and hit print.

Thanks that makes me feel a ton better about my purchase.

Now I've been printing on glass with hairspray for years and absolutely love it. But I see a lot of the newer printers seem to be going to pei or pet tape like the taz. Is it really that much better? Do you just print right on the tape or do you need acetone and abs liquid? If that's the case I'd rather just put hairspray on it

How often do you change the tape?

[KC_703]

The PEI is pretty awesome. Print ABS right on the bare surface. No ABS slurry, glue sticks or hairspray. You'll need to fine tune the Z0 with the PEI otherwise too much squash will have you prying on the part to get it off. The PEI is durable... at least I've had to dig at project with my dental spatula a few times. I haven't gouged the surface, but I have spots where I've scraped quite a bit. The scraping shows up as discolored areas on the bottom side of prints. But a fine grit sandpaper should remove the scrape marks as well as gouges.

There's a great guide on installing the PEI on the Lulzbot forums... under the TAZ or KITTAZ section.

I added the PEI to my Printrbot Simple Metal and it made a world of difference. If I added that earlier on, I may not have "graduated" to the TAZ as quickly. Search for "PEI Film" if you want more of a kapton tape type thickness. Should be just as good, but may not be as durable as .03-.04" sheets.

[billyd]

The PEI is pretty awesome. Print ABS right on the bare surface. No ABS slurry, glue sticks or hairspray. You'll need to fine tune the Z0 with the PEI otherwise too much squash will have you prying on the part to get it off. The PEI is durable... at least I've had to dig at project with my dental spatula a few times. I haven't gouged the surface, but I have spots where I've scraped quite a bit. The scraping shows up as discolored areas on the bottom side of prints. But a fine grit sandpaper should remove the scrape marks as well as gouges.

There's a great guide on installing the PEI on the Lulzbot forums... under the TAZ or KITTAZ section.

I added the PEI to my Printrbot Simple Metal and it made a world of difference. If I added that earlier on, I may not have "graduated" to the TAZ as quickly. Search for "PEI Film" if you want more of a kapton tape type thickness. Should be just as good, but may not be as durable as .03-.04" sheets.

Thank you. I was wondering what you were doing with the z offset now it's clear. That's quite a sophisticated profile you've developed. I've never bothered with varying bed temp by layer. Why are you using a fan on ABS (and I see that varies as well)? I was wondering how people are able to print large ABS prints on the TAZ without an enclosure. Seems impossible. Anyway I will be designing an enclosure for my taz 5 after it arrives. I don't like the fumes and there is talk about nano-particles that could be dangerous as well, not to mention the aid for larger ABS prints. So my 3d printers are enclosed with either filtration or venting as I print almost exclusively in ABS ( and hips) and in the future nylon and polycarbonate.

[KC_703]

The cooling, various temps and varying z-offset are all placeholders to mitigate warping and improve removal of the ABS part from the PEI. The root of this issue is that I'm impatient... and can't wait for parts to completely cool. I use these templates pretty often as-is, but they are a good start point for varying parameters depending on the project size.


Stop reading if you don't want to hear me ramble...

My theory is if the cooling of the part can be varied, deformation from contraction should be kept a minimum. And the tools to vary cooling of the part are the bed, extrusion and fan speed. So the lower part should cool at ambient temps to aid in adhesion to the bed. After a certain amount of ABS is hardened (1-2cm), there should be enough strength that the contraction of the upper portion should have little effect on overall warping. Cool too fast though, and you'll get delamination from the layers not bonding well.

The PEI aids in this process a lot because the ABS adheres so well. A high bed temp for initial layers is preferable, but after a few layers the high temps could discolor the ABS (though, printing in black you really can't tell). It also seems the ABS adheres better to the PEI as the material cools... at 30C the project locks to the bed really well.

Ambient cooling and fan cooling also produces a different sheen on the ABS... which can be noticeable on the perimeter shell. So I think the sooner the fan fan is started a more uniform outer shell.

[billyd]

Well the greater the temperature difference between parts of the print, the greater the strain will be on the layers and adhesion to the bed. So the idea of an enclosure is to keep the model as uniform temperature-wise as possible. This will minimize the differences in contraction and/or expansion through the part, and therefore minimize the resulting forces that want to tear layers apart or pull edges off of the build plate.

[KC_703]

Yep. Absolutely agree. A higher ambient temp created by the enclosure would be a great addition!

[KC_703]

Just wanted to report back on that profile I posted.

The speed is increased a bit and works out well for parts that don't require a lot of detail. If you're printing a toy or display piece, lower the speed back to the original 3600mm/s.

The alternative which seems to work well is to adjust the "Outline Underspeed" percentage down to that 3600 - 3200mm/s.