Plastic oozing out

Hello all,

First of all - Im very happy with my M200 3Dprinter. This is the 3D printing as it suppose to be (had opportunity to use Makerbot 5th gen, and Im so glad so I dont need to use this machine anymore...).

However I have faced problems while printing multibody parts. Plastic oozing out of the nozzle when it transitions from one body to another. (picture attached). 

Printing settings:

Material: Z-Ultrat

Layer: 0.09

Speed: Normal

Infill: Medium

Support: 0

Fan speed: Auto

Is there anything I can do to avoid this "problem" ?

Thank You. 

Short answer is NO, you cannot avoid this completely.

You can minimize it by not printing multiple parts at the same time and avoiding making parts that would have jumps from one area to another.

It is a balance in the software between the "retract" command and how long the jump takes, in open source software printers you can adjust this "retract" parameter to minimize "oozing" but you CANNOT make this kind of change in the "closed" software versions the "Zortrax" uses.

Most of the time you can easily remove these "blobs" as they are not forced (compressed) into the main model.

Well yes and no.

Recently there have been more reports of this oozing problem. It seems Zortrax messed with retraction a bit and screwed it up somewhere, this happens from time to time. Every patch can affect an individual printer differently for some unknown reason which is why we get so many answers to a simple problem. Right now there may not be much you can do to stop the oozing except for checking to make sure the nozzle is fully inserted into the hot block.

Yes while Drew is somewhat right, the printer has never had this problem as bad as it is currently. I know I can print off 24 smaller parts without any strings and bumps on the 0.7 version of the software while on the 1.0 I get strings all the time. The next software patch is still a few weeks out.

-NS

Gents,

thank your for your quick reply's. Much appreciated. 

Printing single part it prints perfectly and I'm impressed when it comes to print quality (again, from very bad experiences from other brand printer... ) 

Here is my custom printer setup :) :

2867

2016-01-26 14.07.55.jpg

Looking forward for a new firmware and hoping this issue with oozing will be fixes as much as it can be :) 

I'm pretty new owner of 3D printer and would be glad if You guys could share good tips (videos maybe) of post processing printed parts :)

Thank you again.

This forum already contains months worth of reading material on printing and almost all methods of post processing. The best way to get the answers is to read up on what has already been done, that way when you encounter a problem you do not have to ask the users because they have already answered the problems multiple times.

-NS

The retraction required some small improvements, we need a some time to check which settings will be the best in this case. I think also when we rebuild the seam algorithm this small bloobs should be gone :)

Sometimes when the filament is a little bit of wet, the bloobs may occur. But as I said we need some time to check this case on different filaments. We'll informed about the progress.

This forum already contains months worth of reading material on printing and almost all methods of post processing. The best way to get the answers is to read up on what has already been done, that way when you encounter a problem you do not have to ask the users because they have already answered the problems multiple times.

-NS

Will go through forum definitely :) Thank you !  

FWIW, someone I know who knows a lot about plastics and extrusion recently told me that stringing can be made worse by moisture in filament.

Drew's advice is best - print one object at a time. As much as I wish sometimes that time could be saved by printing multiple objects, I've proven to myself on numerous occasions that this is not the case - the whole is equal to the sum of the parts. The only thing multi-object prints buy you is fewer start/stop cycles.

I've stored my filament in ZipLock Freezer bags with active desiccant from day one and have yet to see stringing issues. Also, I tend to space out multiple parts a bit more than in your photos. Don't know if that helps or not.

All tough Julias (and Drews) advice is the one that fits most cases, one could just try and step back from printing multiple objects if it doesn't work.

We have heart here how many factors influence the stringing, I would add: the slicer settings and software / firmware combination.

Successful lately printed multiple objects with not so much clearance between them:

We are getting some feedback about retraction, it is definitely going to be improved in upcoming versions. 

As for the filament, moisture can indeed cause prints imperfections. 

I've attached an example of filament storing solution, its perfect. 

Do you have a link to the .stl files for downloading it or does Zortrax sell this as a Filament-Box Kit (Box with spools) ?  :rolleyes:

Do you have a link to the .stl files for downloading it or does Zortrax sell this as a Filament-Box Kit (Box with spools) ?  :rolleyes:

It's a solution that one of the client has sent me. 

But that Filament-Box Kit is not the worst idea ever :)

My first prints using Z-Ultrat on my new M200 were very impressive with very little issues of blobbing and strings.

Since swapping to Z-PETG (better material for mechanical parts and more expensive) I have noticed a big degradation in quality.  Lots of blobbing and strings on the parts.   I wanted this to be my go to material for all my parts but it looks like I will have to wait for the new update to be released as I am simply wasting money trying to get a acceptable print from this supposed "great for prototyping diverse and demanding elements" material.   :rolleyes:

G.

We are getting some feedback about retraction, it is definitely going to be improved in upcoming versions. 

As for the filament, moisture can indeed cause prints imperfections. 

I've attached an example of filament storing solution, its perfect. 

Target here in the US sells gasketed containers like the one you showed.

http://www.target.com/p/sterilite-gasket-box-80qt-transparent-and-blue-aquarium/-/A-50245039#prodSlot=_2_2

Amazon probably sells them too - search on the Sterilite brand name and "air tite".

The filament I have used to print parts in post no 1 was brand new so I believe the humidity was not the case. These "blobs" are not so difficult to remove, but I need to figure out how to recover original filament colour after removing them :) 

One more question - when I do auto-calibration of the platform it has 0.0 in the corners but 0.3 in the middle of the plate. The problem is when I print larger surface parts the nozzle scratches a line (touching printed surface).  But sometimes it is all good. How to avoid this to happen ? :)

I need to figure out how to recover original filament colour after removing them

Hit the white spots briefly with a hot air gun, this will restore the original colour.