I purchased a Taz 6 for my exhibits team at a children’s museum in San Francisco. We absolutely love it, great out of the box and hasn’t had any issues yet. Actually, I was so impressed by how the Taz worked compared to my current printer at home (heated pei surface is the greatest thing ever), that I bought a Mini to replace it.
One thing that I noticed, and is the reason I’m posting, is that with the Taz 6 it shipped with nGen as the sample filament and recommended first print. When I run Cura with the Taz 6 profile at work, nGen appears in the “beginner” material category. However, my Mini shipped with HIPS as the sample filament and recommended “first print” material. When I went to load nGen, I couldn’t find it until I switched to the “intermediate” material category. And it also displays a message saying that “Bed Preparation Required…”
Is there a difference between using nGen on the Taz 6 vs the Mini? The PEI surface seems to be identical just different sized. Also, how necessary is the glue stick? I haven’t noticed any lack of adhesion issues with either printer, or is the glue stick to make it easier to remove? If I’ve been printing without the glue stick up until now have I damaged the bed at all?
I would disregard the glue stick message. It will print the same as on your Taz-6. I print nGen on my Mini all the time and never had to use glue stick. It prints beautifully and does not damage the bed in any way.
We have had reports in the field of larger prints having issues being removed from the bed. We added in the PVA recommendation with our latest revision of Cura and Cura documentation. We had feedback and rolled it in
Brent, just to make sure I understand correctly, the glue stick is to help with the REMOVAL of the print after it’s done not to help it stick during printing?
Certain materials such as NinjaFlex, PETG’s, PETs, etc tend to bond to PEI. nGen is an Amphora 3300, where Inova, XT, nVent are all Amphora 1800’s. The Inova, XT, and nVent require a glue stick for a removal. The Amphora 3300’s are not as bad, but are in the same family of materials. Through testing, we found glue stick had zero Negative effect on adhesion while printing nGen, so the only upside is helping removal.
We switched the recommendation as a precaution to help extend the life of your PEI surface on your bed plate.
