Let me start with a little background first.

My son got into 3D printing in middle school. he would bring home some really cool items to show us. We got him a Printer for Christmas and after two months of helping him try to get it to work right we sent it back. A few months ago we bought him a different printer, a Hatchbox Alpha. he wants to print a few items that are big.

as it stands now after many many attempts to print something, he keeps getting failed test prints ending with blobs, or entire sections not getting the ABS material. He has used the blue painter tape, no tape, raised and lowered the temp of the bed and extruder. Adjusted the Z axis and the level. I have tried to help but to no positive results.


​these are the latest results. can anyone give us some advice or help?

Thank you for your time.

1 Like

Hi

Just thought I’d chime in here.

I’m not all that experienced with 3D printing, But I’ve had several 3D hubs print items for me until lately.

I recently purchased a printer and things are working well.

The only trouble I’ve had, has to do with my drawings not being solid.

If there are holes in the STL file, all kinds of weird things happen.

For example, If I download files from Thingiverse, Which is a very good resource for some things.

I always check the files with my Sketchup software. I know Sketchup does not always get excellent reviews, But it works for me.

If there are problems with the files when loaded into Sketchup, I know that they will not print correctly.

This might help you out quite a bit. Although it could cost a few dollars.

Take an STL file that you are having trouble printing on your machines.

Contact a 3Dhub close to where you live.

Have them print the file.

After you have received the print from your hub of choice, THEN

try printing the very same STL file on your machine.

Just a suggestion that might save you lots of time and aggravation.

1 Like

It is absolutely necessary that you get that first layer to stick to the bed.

This could be the need to get closer to the bed on the first layer, decreasing your first layer height in your slicer, increasing the temperature of the material, or utilizing glue or aqua-net hairspray as a substrate to hold the first layer down.

Experiment, you will get it.

Start with simple prints, small cubes, etc. to get it right.

1 Like