Can't print a Marvin successfully with HelloBee Prusa

[Diogo_Neves]

Hello guys!

I need some help please! I finished building my HelloBee Prusa recently and started making some printing tests, but no success so far! (I was counting on that )

Well, I have tried many approaches but maybe it would be better to ask for some advice in order to save some time to achieve a first print with success.

I’m printing PLA with the bed heated at 70ºC and the extruder at 210ºC at a 40mm/s speed. I calibrated the bed a few times.

I’m using Cura and Pronterface as recommended by the manufacturers. I attached a photo to enlighten my problem. It seems that I have lack of filament feed, and sometimes the filament gets stuck middle print. I lubricated it and now seems ok. Regarding the retraction speed or any other configurations can you guys give me some piece of advice?

Many thanks in advance. Best Regards!

[dmarques]

Hi Diogo,

Maybe you can find the answer to your issue on our forum: https://beeverycreative.com/forum/

If not, please post your message in this platform.

Thank you in advance.

Diogo Marques

Community Manager

BEEVERYCREATIVE

[Diogo_Neves]

Hello Diogo! Thanks for your answer. I already posted this question yesterday in BeeVeryCreative forum but still waiting for a reply! I came here for help because it is a bigger community!

Thanks again!

[dmarques]

Yes, this is a fantastic 3D printing community.

By the way, our team is with this issue and will certainly help you. Stay tuned in the forum, please.

Diogo Marques
Community Manager

BEEVERYCREATIVE

[ponto_z]

Should I rewrite this in english?

[Diogo_Neves]

Hi ponto_z

Thanks for your feedback! Those are the first useful tips I am receiving. For me there is no problem to receive the answer in portuguese but since this is a worldwide community I think it is better to keep the conversation in English since this question might also occur to other users from other languages.

Regarding the under extrusion I have already tried but no improvements so far. Although I first printed at 45 mm/s. I think I will try to print at a lower speed in this first print to check if the results are better. About those questions regarding the elephant foot and the skirt I’ll try to re calibrate the printing surface again to allow a better extrusion of the filament.

In Cura I set the filament diameter to 1.75 mm but thanks for the warning

I’ve been tuning the printer during the printing process to improve results.

Thanks again for your feddback!

[Diogo_Neves]

I think it is better for other users to be able to understand it

[josem]

Hey Diogo,

Welcome and excellent choice, the helloBEEprusa is a wonderful printer although a bit temperamental at times. But it wouldn’t be fun otherwise!

I’ve had mine working for over a month now and also here on 3Dhubs, but I had lots of problems with prints stopping halfway at the beginning. The regulars at the Facebook group were an awesome help (this was before the forums)

Things to check:

1- Temperatures - I now usually print PLA at 200C and bed at 60C. Beeverycreative PLA seems to “flow” better than others but maybe because I tuned the printer so much to it. Too high or too low on the extruder temp and the filament might get stuck. Try it.

2- Extruder feed screw tightness - this is a difficult one, can’t be too tight or too loose, I tend to err more on the side of tight. I usually get a feel of how the filament is being pulled once a put in a new spool. When it seems to have a good pull I tighten it a little more, an extra turn. Once you “get” the feel you’ll get it right most of the time from then on.

3- Cura settings - The default retraction etc from the manual didn’t work so well for me, but I used the ones Pedro Dantas posted and stuck to them since. Check them out here: Redirecting...

Hope this helps, but you’ll have to do a lot of experimentation at the beginning. But it gets better!.. until your next material, that is

[ponto_z]

Hi Diogo,

Is that exterior line in the picture a skirt? If so, it seems you have the bed too close to the nozzle. At Marvin’s feet seems to exist the so called “Elephant foot”, which happens when the first layer is too squished against the bed.

About the underextrusion, have you already tried to print with the retractions off?

I haven’t my HelloBEEPrusa assembled yet, but acording to the definitions BeeVeryCreative has on their website for using Cura with BeeTheFirst, the retraction could be about 0,75mm at 125mm/s ( both printers have direct extrusion).

I guess the best thing to do is change those definitions gradually, since they may be very different from machine to machine. (Big Builder, which also has direct extrusion has better results with 3mm at 20mm/s.

Also, make sure you have set the right filament diameter in Cura. If set to a larger diameter, the filament feed will be less.

Hope this helps!

[Diogo_Neves]

Hello Josem! Thanks a lot for your feedback! I will take into account the points that you highlight in my next prints! I guess the ball is on my side now! I will update the post as soon as I make some more tests in my prusa!

Thanks again!

[DaJay23D]

Hello,

Here are some things I’d recommend before you do test prints. IMO, Marvin isn’t a very good calibration print. Between 1-10 and 10 being very difficult prints, I’d say Marvin is a 5. Especially, for beginners. Maybe, if you’re veteran, you’d give Marvin a lower # as far as difficulty goes.

1. Calibrate and make sure your bed is level. Print 1 layer, 1 layer parts, like a disc…etc. Make sure you’re getting just the right amount of squish. I’m assuming this isn’t much of a problem compared to delta printers.

2. Calibrate your e step; What is E Steps and how to calibrate it - YouTube The video is for a delta printer and different softwares, but same concept and you should have very similar parameters to select.

3. Watch all that guy’s videos ^^^. Some very good info.

4. Calibrate your extrusion rate, print 1 wall cubes.

After you’ve printed enough cubes, discs…etc. Then print Marvin to see how it is. Also, layer fans help. I’m sure you can search and find tons of comments on that. I only have 1 layer fan and when I printed Marvin, the side that got the cooling looked better than the other sides that did’t…=/

To emphasize, I don’t have a Cartesian printer. But the concept should be the same. Try different #s in your slicer to see what works best for you. Good luck!

[Diogo_Neves]

Thanks DaJay! really good tips there! Will be taken into account!

[Diogo_Neves]

Hello everyone! I finally got it!

My main issues were:

1. Bed calibration

2. Filament lubrication - it gets stuck at the beginning of the printing. Increasing the number of skirts helped me to realize if it was stuck or not before going to the object being printed.

3. Z axis rod lubrication

4. Tension of the feeder bearing with the extruder stepper motor

5. PLA printing temperature! At first I was printing at 210ºC and the PLA didn’t came of the nozzle smoothly… It had not a constant feeding rate… By decreasing the temperature to 190ºC it was completely different.

I know that the printing is not perfect yet, specially regarding the base, since I was tuning the printing process, but I’m happy with the overall result.

There’s an attachment with the result! Thank you all for your help! This community is AWESOME!

[ponto_z]

That’s great

[gabriela3d]

Marvin looks awesome! Congrats, Diogo, the result is truly impressive. And thanks for sharing your findings with us

[Diogo_Neves]

Hello Gabriela! Well, his feet are not excellent although I’ve done a few more prints with the correct setting and I am very pleased! thanks for your support! btw the layer resolution was 0.1mm

[Diogo_Neves]

Thanks for your tips Ponto_Z! They were very usefull!