Printing without hold

I needed to print a part today for a new printer design we're working on -- more about that later -- the MM1.5 was busy, so it was time to try using the MM2 to print it.

We've been printing on the MM2 pretty well, but had kapton tape layered on the glass.  Unfortunately due to an earlier accident (someone typed 1.2 instead of .12 as the Z position in a G92 command) the bed ended up looking like this:

As you can see, the head ended up scratching up all the tape as it moved back across the bed.  Fortunately it didn't scratch the glass or even break it.

So the tape was removed, the bed heated and printing fun began.

First layer seemed to go down ok, but after a few layers I felt comfortable enough to walk away and let it continue its work.

Fortunately, I came back and caught it doing this before I stopped the print.  The print had come free of the bed during printing and was being dragged around by the head as it spewed pumpkin colored PLA all over the place.

Not good.








Based on a recommendation from our  resident 3D printing expert, I decided to give the glass a quick blast of Garnier Fructis Style -- with EXTREME control -- initially the  results seemed to be positive, the printed part stuck nicely to the bed and everything seemed to be working out just fine.

Sadly to say, this was not the case. As the print approached the end of its run, the part came loose and I ended up with a melted mess on top.

I think I'll be able to use the part at least to test the belt motion it was designed to fit as the mounting holes are mostly complete on both sides.

I guess we'll end up covering the bed in Kapton tape again.

On the plus side, the orange PLA looks great against the blue plate on the MM2 - if only it had stuck better.