How to make the raft thinner

[Owen Zheng]

Hi Makerbot Experts,

I was printing a small dome shaped nut with my makerbot 5th gen. I was satisfied by how much detail it shows but I could not get my part off from the raft because the raft is so thick that I can't bend or cut it off.

Does anyone know a good way to reduce the thickness of the raft so it's easier to be separated?

Thanks

Owen

[Jetguy]

Which 5th gen?

 

This matters greatly. I've had very little (well really none at all) printing raftless on the Mini.

All of the 5th gens use the nozzle homing sequence which I have been less than impressed with as far as accurate and repeatable first layer height goes- hence the reason for using rafts in the first place as a compensating factor.

 

Now, they just announced new firmware and software for the 5th gens and specifically, homing is one area they supposedly fixed in the latest version. I cannot test until I get my Mini back.

 

So again, the bottom line best answer is update the firmware and try to print raftless. Otherwise- you are going to have to dig deep and edit the profile and pray you find the magic combination of settings.

 

Sorry if that's a non-answer but it's what I know

Update the firmware and MakerBot Desktop

Try and print raftless

If that doesn't work- well time to read up on editing profiles and a lot of experimentation.

[James Clarke]

No luck printing raftless on our Z18 - last few prints we've been using a modified profile, 1 base raft layer, 2 intermediate layers, 0 surface layers. Has worked out okay so far, much easier to separate at least.

[Joe Zeimen]

When using MakerWare this is what I do its a bit scrappy, but it works for me.

Make a custom profile based on the profile you usually use.

Click edit profile.

make sure the "doRaft" is set to true

Then way at the bottom there is extrusionProfiles change "firstLayerRaft" to look like this:

        "firstlayerraft": {

            "feedrate": 50,

            "temperature": 200.0

        }

I'm using a rep2 and when it is almost done with the raft the lights change to red. Pause the print when this happens wait like 20 seconds (the light colors change more towards blue) then unpause it. You might have to practice this pausing. What is happening now is the extruder is cooling to 200. Then you let it continue after it is done with the first layer it will heat back up to 230 or whatever you have yours set as. 

I have found this lower temperature makes the item peel off the raft really easily. The only issue might be if you don't give the extruder enough time to cool before that first layer. It did take me a print or 2 to get it just right.

Does that make sense?

[Eric Boxer]

I also just received a Z18, updated the firmware and desktop to the latest versions and still cannot print raft-less. Every time I do I end up with a giant wad of filament stuck to the extruder. I'll give your settings a try and see how that works. I had a similar issue with supports not being able to be removed from a print...

[Eric Boxer]

Makes perfect sense actually. I'll try that today, thanks!

-----

Cheers!

Eric Boxer

Typed with my thumbs. Please excuse typos and brevity. 

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[Eric Boxer]

Seems to have worked very well. Adjusted the temp a little more and everything is coming off the rafting much better. Thank you!