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I’ve seen a few other posts on similar issues, but I have a Zortrax M200 and after a print is finished there is no possible way to separate the print from the raft. I have calibrated the platform to within .01mm and have tried just about every setting in the z-suite program and I keep getting the same result. I see other posts about a curling issue on the M200 and I am guessing something was changed making it now too difficult to remove making it useless. Is there anything I can do to help with this?

Side question: is there a program that I can save files for both a MakerBot and Zortrax?

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Haven’t had this problem. In fact, I have the opposite problem of a large print separating from the raft while printing… anyway, in the event I encounter a raft that is tough to remove from the print, I just take the provided clippers and make a small snip on the corner of the print (between the print and the raft) and that usually starts the process enough for easy removal.

The problem you’re describing almost sounds as if the print itself is being embedded into the raft. You might check your print layer by layer in zsuite and see if this is the case.

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I can’t find any way in Z-Suite to check layer by layer. Do you have any suggestions? Is there another program that works with zortrax that I should use instead?

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After you have run the process to prep your file for printing, hit the “pause” button. This allows you to insert pauses in the print (for changing filament or whatever), but if you move the slider all the way to the left (0%), and then use your right arrow key on your keyboard you can progress through your print and see how your printer will print the file.

I’m not sure if this will actually help you, but it’s a starting place at least. See attached photo.

pause.jpg
pause.jpg1006×960 113 KB

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OK, I believe you are correct in that the print is embedded in the top of the raft… Now the question is, what can I do to fix that? The Z-Suite software doesn’t seem to have any options to change that? I’ve tried “lite support” and any other options I can find, but I keep getting the same thing.

Is there another program that I can use that might work better at taking the .stl and creating a .zcode? If there was something that worked with both zortrax and makerbot printers it would be amazing.

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Zsuite is all I use, other than Blender to create the files. I would suggest this course of action:

1. Take a screenshot of the last layer of the raft that is created and post it here so we can see it. If the object is embedded in the raft you would expect to see the first layer of the blue object embedded in the grey portion of the raft.

2. Print something else. Does it still happen? Or is this only happening with this particular file?

3. If it’s only happening with this file, then maybe something is wrong with the file.

4. If this happens on everything you print. Try that snip method I mentioned earlier. If you carefully snip the corner of your print to remove the raft that should start the process of (fairly) easily removing the raft. Some rafts are harder than others to remove, but I wouldn’t say I’ve ever had a difficult to remove one.

5. If that doesn’t work, then upgrade to the latest firmware and version of z-suite to see if that corrects the problem. If you just upgraded your firmware and now you have the problem, then revert to a previous version and contact Zortrax support.

Actually, not that we’re talking about it. I do recall seeing some posts about problems with the raft in zsuite version 1.4. or 1.5 thereabouts. What version are you running?

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Here are my two files… is there any way you can take a look at them and see if you notice anything set up incorrectly? I am having the same issues with other prints as well.

I can’t add the z-code, but here it is http://www.filedropper.com/top5iinultra-t
hughes_2_hole_-top.5i_in.stl (29.6 KB)

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The files look fine to me. I can’t see anything wrong with them. What version of zsuite are you using? Also what version of firmware? Also, what’s your familiarity with the printer? The raft can take some bending/peeling to remove, but normally it isn’t difficult. Sometimes I get fragments I cannot remove with my finger, but like I said I just clip one of the corners and it comes right off. At the end here you can see the effort the guy puts in to removing the raft, but once he gets it going, it comes right off:

If you can confirm you’re using the latest versions of both software and firmware, and you’ve tried the clipping method, and you still can’t get it off, you’d probably want to contact support.

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First off, I’ve contacted support twice and haven’t heard anything back which is why I came to the forum.

Watching that video, my pieces are stuck much more than what I see on there. I usually begin to bend/peel off the raft and when I get to the actual print, the raft begins to rip apart leaving behind the raft that is attached to the print. I’ve tried getting an exacto knife to start it off without ripping, but nothing seems to help.

I am using 1.7.0 version of Z-Suite and the printer firmware is 1.0.2. I will update it to 1.0.5 and try again.

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Yeah, update that firmware to 1.05. That should do it. I know somewhere down the line they had an issue with the raft. I don’t recall if it was addressed in firmware of zsuite, but hopefully it helps you.

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How’d the firmware update go, and do you still have the problem?

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Horribly… I found 0.0.8 on their website and got that installed. Now the card reader does not recognize any files on the card. I just get a “no files found” message when I try to pull up a print. I’ve tried different SD cards and have reformatted the disk to both Fat32 and NTFS. I’ve tried to reinstall the 1.0.5 firmware and it appears stuck on 0.0.8 and won’t update from there. Any thoughts?

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If you’ve already tried to replace the update file on the card from 0.0.8 to 1.0.5 but it won’t take, no, sorry, I don’t have any ideas. You might try to go from 0.0.8 to 1.0.2 first. If you bought the printer from a reseller you should contact them. If you bought from Zortrax I think you’re just stuck waiting for them to respond.

I’m curious as to your thought process though. If you were already at 1.0.2, and you know you needed to go to 1.0.5, why did you first regress your printer to 0.0.8?

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I can’t seem to find 1.0.2 anywhere to download. As for going back to 0.0.8, we tried 1.0.5 and it had the same print issues with separating the raft and we figured we should try the only other option.

This is where I pulled the firmware from:

http://support.zortrax.com/downloads/firmware/?printers=m200

I’ll try to contact the reseller for support.