Raft not separating from build.

[Bradley Thomas]

Hello, I am trying to print a small build that is basically 2mm in height in the shape of an L. I have a Makerbot 2X and I have printed it with a raft, which I cannot separate. I have tried to print this without a raft and the extruder stops extruding (I have to do a load filament command to get the filament flowing again) and also doesn't seem to stick to the build plate. I ordered dissolveable filament but in the mean time is there a solution to this? It's ABS filament. Can I put something on the buildplate to make it stick better without a raft? Do I need to print a raft all of the time? Also, Is there water dissolveable filament you recommend?  I have been printing successfully for a while but now filament seems more brittle and gets stuck a lot more. I tried a cold pull and doesn't seem to be clogged. Not sure if this is just a filament issue or a raft issue?

Thank you

[JF Kansas]

Probably a tramming issue. Your nozzle is too close to the build plate and is cutting off flow. Relevel/regap a little bigger. Shouldn't need a raft... You can put some glue stick to help it stick but the best most reliable is slurry on glass. Melt some abs in acetone and apply a thin coat to a glass plate. In some ways slurry is sort of a raft, but it is intended to fuse with the part instead of the part floating on top of the raft. 

If you have a MicroCenter local to you then their Inland brand PVA is a good choice, but I only use it in extreme circumstances. Generally same material/nozzle supports are good enough if done right. 

[Scott Booker]

PLA on a R2X is not a good combination.....

[Darrell jan]

He said PVA, polyvinyl acetate, not PLA. This was in response to the question about water soluble filament. 

[Scott Booker]

Wooops.. my bad.

[Ryan Carlyle]

Pics of your issues and a description of your slicer settings will help enormously.

On Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 10:36:57 PM UTC-6, Bradley Thomas wrote:

[Jim Fouch]

When I have had issues with items not extruding on the 1^st layer as you described when printing w/o a raft, it has always been because I have the bed set too close to the nozzle. It’s a very fine line in having the bed too close and too far away. It took me a while to get it just right, but since I have it dialed in I no longer use rafts in any of my prints.

 

Jim Fouch