yellowshark

OK can you please send us the settings that you used for the print - are those pics all from the same print?. Are pics 1& 4 of the base? It looks as if the first few layers are a wall and then there is a platform further up the model, is that correct? Also helpful if you could send a pic of the model from Cura or your modelling software so we can get a feel for what it is meant to look like and where on the model pics 2&3 are located. You do not mention levelling the bed and setting the nozzle to bed distance. Did you do this? Did you do it slowly and carefully, maybe several times?

I think Tinkergnome meant to say "... that's why you can't reach the same printing speed with thicker layers." Just so you do not understand. You can print .100 and .300 layers at the same speed - to a point, which is the maximum flow your printer can generate. Compared with .100, .300 is 3 times the quantity to be extruded at any given time. So in that context your maximum print speed at .100 (i.e up to your maximum flow rate) will be faster than your maximum speed at .300. What you need to understand is the relationship between the amount of filament you want to extrude(your layer height), how fast you want to print (your print speed), and the viscosity of the filament (your extruder temperature). As a general rule the more filament you want to deposit and the faster you want to go, then the hotter your extruder needs to be. I say general rule because you can probably print say .100 at 30mm/s and .100 at 40mm/s with the same temperature and get decent prints from both sets of settings. Push that speed up to say 60mm/s and you will almost certainly need to increase the temperature to compensate or else get under extrusion. And just to make things fun, you will find eventually (when it goes wrong!) that certain filaments may need different temperatures to print at the same thickness and speed.

Plus a couple of points. If you are printing something that gets narrower as you reach the top. e.g. a church spire, Cura or whatever slicer you are using will slow the print speed to maintain the minimum layer print time you have set. Assuming you have no blockages or feed path problems then if you under extrude you either need to increase your extruder temp. or lower you print speed because the filament has too high a viscosity for the printer to feed it though the nozzle at the required speed. If your model has overhangs then often you will get a better surface finish if you print slow (and fans on 100%)

LOL not strictly true - I know how many miles per gallon my car does but no idea how many kilometres per litre it does! The Americans are hedging their bets, my American car uses imperial and metric fasteners. The French as usual are very diplomatic, you order a large or small beer. And my new tyre pressure monitor is PSI.

Just had a look - is it possible to change the infill multiple times, i.e. at different heights during the print? I have a print which will either be hollow or use 20% infill. But at various places screws will be inserted. So behind the wall I need to put a block for the screw to bite into. I am limited on how big I can make the wall thickness so I am worried that unless I have a 100% infill the bite of the screw may not be good enough.

OK thanks, I will have a look at that plug-in

.... if you like I am not convinced that elephant's feet are only a result of nozzle to bed distance.

Yes I agree, mainly. Certainly temperature is not (I think) a parameter that affects the pressure created for extrusion. But I have seen over-extrusion in a print where extruder temp is too high - which in context is the point on layer one. Now if the result is due to expansion rather than over extrusion then I stand corrected . But the end result is the same, more filament than you need/want.

If I need to clean my nozzle/hot-end then I use boiling water - cheap and non-hazardous . and a toothpick or small flat bladed screwdriver. Also if you have a length of filament stuck in there then it is easy to push out after a couple mins on the boil

Hi I am not really familiar with this plug-in, does it support a change of infill %? Or do I need to buy Simply 3D :(

Silver metallic - I had something similar with a Faberdashery filament that had sparkles in it, which were bits of something different, and had bits deposited in the nozzle. If you are prototyping then just going for a plain colour PLA should be possible. If you print at too high a temperature then the PLA will "boil" and leave deposits. I am guessing that 240c is your limit although I never go anywhere near that so I am not 100% sure. If you are doing consecutive prints and leave the extruder temp. at the print temperature ready for the 2nd run, do not leave it without extruding for too long. Again not sure on this but more than 10mins might be too long -and I think this may well vary by filament as I have seen different consistencies being extruded by different filaments say after a 5 minute wait. Mind you I have seen anything like your mess We are in the middle of producing a wing mirror plinth for Lotus Elise S1s and are coating it in XTC-3D hoping that will give it a paint ready surface. Ever used that before?

If the height is 1.275mm then your "Bottom/Top" setting will almost certainly mean that all your layers will be 100% even if you set infill at 0%.

..oh and I am guessing, because I have never tried it, but if your 1st layer speed and print speed were the same you may well avoid it, i.e. trying 30mm/s say. Also though you have the fan difference between 1st and subsequent layers and I am not sure what impact that might have on shrinkage

The standard advice for 1st layer is to reduce speed and increase bed and extruder temps. I never increase the extruder temp. As you cannot change 1st layer extruder temp in Cura I suspect that most users use their print temp. for the 1st layer. So if your optimal print settings are say 210c at 40mm/s then if you print the first layer at 20mm/s you will get over extrusion, inevitable. If it is important to me I reduce the dimensions of the first layer by 0.1mm i.e. say it was a cylinder in vertical orientation that would be 0.1mm off the diameter. I do though think that using a chamfer is possibly a better solution, maybe. And yes Emilio it would be nice if the slicer compensated for you

Just to be sure, Glitch is American for error aka a funny. Mesh is you model, made up of lots of triangular faces. I just could not work out why you were getting those three little circles in the flat surface. I wondered if there was an error(s) in your mesh, these things can happen especially if you are using free or cheap modelling software, or using a scanned file. Probably unlikely but the cause has me beat.

Well assuming that you do not have a blockage in the nozzle or feeder system, the other variable (which you do not mention) is the print speed. In theory and indeed in reality you should find that a .3 layer is easier to stick than a .15 layer. But as you are talking about layer 1 I would have thought that the Basic profile would be using .300 for the first layer. Anyway what speed were you using for the 1st layer? If it is faster than 20mm/s reduce it to 20mm/s and see how that goes.

Good to see you have solved your problem. looking at your photos though that is really weird, I have never seen that before. Maybe you have a glitch in your mesh.

Hi George, I am certainly not an expert on the subject but I do wonder if WD40 is a good idea for cleaning, Sure if you want to try and release a stubborn nut it can be really helpful but as I understand it WD40 leaves a deposit. I have a paper on the subject buried somewhere which explains the chemical process. We want the rods and the z-screw to be as frictionless as possible so when I came to clean mine for the first time WD40 immediately came t mind but then I started thinking about it - and rejected it. I could easily be wrong/paranoiac but I thought I would mention it just in case,

Sorry no I have not - but I think I will be :cool:

Yes I agree with Tommy. I would be inclined to separate the long base plate and the middle piece, of course not knowing what the use is and what stresses might be placed on the assembly if you then glue the pieces together. If separated I think also I would be inclined to orient the middle piece on the print bed so it is printed vertically. That will give you a better surface finish to the external face which is inclining to the left in the first pic. (if that is important). But if you want to print it as is, if you go slow you may get a decent finish without using supports on that face. I find Meshmixer normally better for supports than Cura as you can manually add or delete supports as required. It will take a bit more effort with Meshmixer as you have to spend a bit of time working out how to use it, whereas with Cura you just tick a box! It is a free download from Autodesk at http://www.123dapp.com/meshmixer

I finally got around to looking at this again. I switched on my printer and set the bed to 76c. to achieve 65c on the glass plate. Well actually I start with the temp up in the 90s to speed the heat transfer process up but once I get to around 60c I then turn the heater down to 76c. Once the central are was measuring 65c with my ordinary digital thermometer (does it use IR) the perimeter areas were lower, ranging from 5c to 15c lower. I left the printer for 30 mins and on return all the perimeter areas, bar one, were within 1.5 degrees of 65. The upper rear left of the plate was about 3 degrees short. I took the plate off the bed and placed it on a wooden table and saw exactly the same temps.

Yes I know what you mean ZoeV89. Unlike Big Macs my personal view is that the USA litigious culture was not a good export. I am not convinced that there are lots of class actions in the UK but I do think that people who make products are seriously more scared these days which does nothing to help progress and reasonable risk taking. But in the right scenario I guess it has its positives

Not a good time for Stratasys. One of their shareholders has issued a class action lawsuit against them; their financial projection of $31-24 million loss has turned out to be $129-116 million. The missing $100 million seems to come from an impairment charge arising from the fact that Makerbot is worth somewhat less than the $494 million Stratasys paid for it in 2013. At the same time it appears that a group of Makerbot customers are organising their own class action against the brand due to their faulty 5th Generation Replicator Smart Extruders (which the company has claimed to since have improved).

Depends on how long you waited before taking the pics. If I am printing a big piece I have to wait 10mins+ for the perimeter areas to get to the desired temp after the central area has achieved it.; but in my experience they do get there. No idea though on how using a glass plate, which I do, affects the question.

I will add two points to George's comments. I use a glass plate on my print bed (it attaches to the 4 corners via magnets) and needs a z-offset of circa 6.9mm). Once cleaned using soapy water followed by a non alcohol rub, I heat the glass on the bed to 60-65c then spray the glass lightly with one coat of extra strength hairspray, wait 20-30 secs and than apply 1 more coat with a light spray, ready to go. I have used this solely for 18 months with PLA and nylon. Do not forget when using a plate that firstly your bed temp. measure will probably be of the bed not the plate. The plate will probably be 5-10 degrees cooler; e.g. on my printer I set the bed temp. to 75 to get 65 and 68 to get 60c. Secondly, if doing a print with a large base, when the print bed centre hits your desired temp. various perimeter areas can be a lot cooler, 10-15c You need to wait (10 mins?)and check to be sure all of your plate is at the desired bed temp before starting the print. of lightly sprayeddrers via