Removing parts

Does anyone else having troubles removing parts after the bed is cooled? an tips or tricks to help part removal?

Hi Peter

depending very much which filament you are using it can be a bit of a hassle to get parts of. Never the less it can also be the exact opposite. Some times parts come off during printing… again all depending on the filament.

In the lulzbot cure edition you get some good hints when extra bed treatment is required.
You also can have a look on the filaments lulzbot is selling. for each of them they have advice in the shop area.

All the Best
Frank

No silver bullet here, but some guidelines:

  • Always let the PEI cool to ~50C.
  • Don’t pry on the part to remove. Get a flat edged tool to slip under the print. I like something like the wide round edged tool in this set, The slight angle before the blade, provides leverage to push the blade under the part. Again don’t pry up, slip the tool under the part and work around the edge until the part pops off.
  • Properly adjust the nozzle height… with the Mini, make sure that the auto-level is working. Clean the nozzle, probe points and wiper to ensure proper contact is made. If any of the parts are dirty, filament residue can reduce the momentary conductive contact and result in a unlevel bed or incorrect initial nozzle height
  • Try using a .1 - .2mm Z-offset in your slicer software for easier part removal.

For me with the mini and printing ABS, the following did the trick:

  1. In the advanced tab, change initial line layer width to 100%

  2. In machine: machine settings I added a 0.18mm offset for my nozzle.

  3. Always remove at 50C, or whatever the recommended removal temp is for your particular material.

The other trick I’ve found, at least with parts with smaller bed surface areas, is if I tap the part with the blue handle end of my removal tool a few times, the vibrations tend to loosen things up a bit to help get the blade under the part.

Before I did steps 1 and 2, part removal was very tricky.

As stated you can work with your first layer height on certain materials to basically reduce the grip of that filament to the print bed. Also, a good tool to remove prints is important. You’ll want to get one or two and find out what works good for you.

Just take your time, its not worth messing up your PEI sheet from cutting it etc. Always check your tool(s) for removing prints after you do so as sometimes you might bend a corner etc which could cut your PEI next time. Take your time!