entomophile
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Posts posted by entomophile
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Thank you for sharing your feedback! How long did the entire assembly take you?
I didn't time it. Maybe 2 hours without rushing?
PS-I'm still shocked every time I turn the power on just how quiet the new head is.
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I just finished the upgrade of my UM2 to a 2+. First of all, hats off to Ultimaker for making their machines upgradeable rather than forcing us to buy a new machine to keep pace with the latest tech. The upgrade was pretty easy, UM video was a big help.
First impressions: this thing is quiet! The new fans are terrific. About all I hear now is the whine of the extrusion motor when the filament retracts. I keep the printer in my office and it is much more comfortable working while it is printing because it is so quiet.
I was reluctant to print anything after the upgrade because I was afraid the print quality would not be as good until I tweaked things. My UM2 was really dialed in. But I printed this weevil by 3DKitbash immediately after the hardware and software upgrade. I used the stock PLA settings and printed at 0.1 mm with the 0.4 mm nozzle (50 mm/s) with Ultimaker Blue PLA. The nose was printed on its side as a separate piece. Pics are as-printed, no clean up.
The new nozzle seems to use heat more efficiently. I was able to print at 10 degrees less than usual with this filament and based on the look of the print I could probably dial it back a few more degrees. Maybe my old dirty nozzle just needed more heat to melt the plastic... The new glass clips are much easier to open and the new extruder makes changing filament a breeze. With the new extruder I never heard the familiar click from when the pressure gets too high like I did with the old one. Anyway, I am very happy. Great upgrade, highly recommended.
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OK, looks like I fixed the problem myself. I reduced the retraction length to 3 mm as recommended by MadeSolid. I really didn't expect 1.5 mm to make that much of a difference but I guess it does. I also decreased my infill from 20 to 15%. The infill is still a little messy, but at least it is complete.
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I just started printing with PET+. I printed a bunch of twin test cylinders to find the optimal print temperature. At 220C the surface finish is perfect and layer bonding is very strong. So I started printing some larger objects. The bottom layers and outer walls print perfectly but as soon as the infill starts the lines break down and the infill ends up a mess. It looks as though not enough material is being extruded during the infill. I tried slowing the infill speed to the same as the print speed (30 mm/s) with no luck. I also tried increasing the print temp to 230C thinking the material wasn't flowing fast enough, but that didn't help. Could this be a retraction issue? The retraction settings on my UM2 are 4.5mm @ 25 mm/s. The Cura retraction settings are 1.5 mm minimum travel, combing off, 0.02 minimal extrusion, and 0 Z hop.
Here is a pitcure with a few infill layers printed after the bottom layers.
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I have been doing a lot of printing in ABS lately; some very large parts. And of course I am having issues with warping. The basement where I print is pretty cool and I thought that could be adding to the problem. So I decided to make a lexan cover for the front of my UM2 to prevent drafts and hopefully even out the temperature in the build chamber.
I cut out a piece of 12" x 12" lexan. Originally I was going to hold it on with neodymium magnets but they weren't strong enough. I would have had to drill out my UM2 and insert opposing magnets in the case.
Finally, I settled on velcro for a quick, air tight, and completely reversible solution. Full 1" strips down the sides and half strips at the top and bottom. It's not nearly as elegant as Kris' door, but it works. I have to make a few more prints to see how much it helps without a top cover. I am hoping the convection currents from the build plate can stabilize the temperature without a top cover.
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Am I right in thinking that multiple ABS parts don't like to be printed all at once? I am getting layer separation on otherwise beautiful parts. I am thinking that when printing all at once the layers are cooling too much before the next layer is printed.
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There s also an option for minimum print speed, which over-rides this option. (Look under advanced options)
Ooooooh! I mis-read this to mean the print speed under the expanded settings. I set the minimum print speed to zero and now the minimal layer time function works. Thank you all.
However... As you already know, the print looked like crap. I thought minimal layer time would print a layer at the set print speed, then pause and wait the remaining minimal time until it started the next layer.
For those who don't get it like me, minimal layer time slows down the print speed so the entire layer takes at least as long as the minimal time to print. So, my printer was trying to print a 3 mm cylinder over 5 seconds, and it ended up a big plastic blob.
So, is there a way, when printing small or thin objects, to get the printer to wait a second or two before going to the next layer?
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- consider updating the Cura version
- what is the shell width? Have you tried thicker walls and/or more infill?
- try to print more than one piece at a time (it doesn't have to be the same model)
Funny, I thought I had the latest version of Cura! I check the update software option in Cura often, and it always tells me I have the latest version? I had to go to the Ultimaker downloads page to get the latest version.
Shell is 0.8 mm with 20% infill.
I updated Cura and the firmware on my UM2 and tried again. Same result. The minimal layer time function just isn't working. Every layer prints one after the other, about 1 sec per layer. I know there are other ways to get a better print, but that doesn't explain why the minimal layer time setting isn't working.
I ended up printing 3 at once and spacing them out on the build plate to force a little more cooling time. That gave me a pretty good print.
That's OK for a small print like this, but that won't work on a larger print. I'd really like to get the minimal layer time function working.
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OK, here's a pic. Material is PLA. Cura is version 14.09.
The print on the left was done at 205C with the high quality defaults. The middle print was done at 200C with the high quality defaults. I lowered the object in Cura to just print the bad part over. The print on the right was done at 200C with a 30 sec minimal layer time, 0.06 mm layers and 20 mm/s print speed. As it was printing, it was just printing one layer after another, in much less than 30 seconds.
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I am trying to print something tall and thin and it is coming out looking kind of melted. I increased my minimal layer time to make sure each layer had time to cool, but it doesn't look like it changed the print any. I set the minimal layer time to 30 seconds but each layer does not take that long to print. Even in Cura, when I double my layer time setting to 60 sec, the total print time doesn't even change. What am I missing?
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What version of cura do you use? What are your settings? Could be a new bug with initial layer height at 0
It's Cura 14.09. All settings are as recommended (see pix). I have tried bottom/top thickness at 0, 0.1, and 0.2. None worked.
GR5 - I haven't even gotten to a filament change. I print an object just fine with default settings and clear the object. Then I immediately try to print the first layer of my multicolor print and the nozzle extrudes some filament before starting the print as always (plenty of PLA comes out). Then the print head goes through the motions, but no PLA is printed on the bed. So I try to print a different file with the defaults and it prints just fine again. It is not an extruder or filament problem.
OK, this may shed some light on the problem. I have a 0.2 mm stl file for my first layer. I figured I would try to print it with the quick print defaults to see if the file was OK. In Cura, when I check the scale, the object is indeed 0.2 mm high. When I choose the low quality print it says it will print in 2 minutes and I get one layer in the layer view. If I change to the normal or high quality defaults, it says it will print in 0 minutes and the object disappears from the virtual build platform.
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Your bed leveling might be too close to the nozzle blocking the material from flowing normally.
No, that's not it. I made prints of other objects before and after trying these settings and everything was fine. It has to be something in my Cura settings. Or maybe my stl file? But the layers look fine in Cura.
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OK, what am I doing wrong? The nozzle starts extruding before the print, then it prints nothing for the first layer. It goes through the motions, but nothing comes out of the nozzle. The nozzle is not clogged. What should my setting be for the bottom/top thickness? My other settings are as described in blecheimer's post. Is there another setting I need to change? In cura, I can see two solid layers so I think the .stl file is OK. Not sure what is going wrong.
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I believe it happens every time, even with other brands of filament. I still have the scraps from past cleanings. I don't have access to them now, but I'll post pictures later today.
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Yes, I mean the two holes. There is one on the other side as well. I can't tell if they just appear as the filament stretches as I remove it, or maybe there is something in the nozzle. But I would expect if there was something in the nozzle, the holes would look like lines as I pulled the filament out over the obstruction. Or maybe it's voids in the filament? It is MatterHackers Pro Series PLA which I think is pretty good stuff. The outer surface of the filament is perfect.
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I performed an atomic clean after a lousy print with some bad under extrusion. Whenever I do it, the filament comes out with a couple of dimples like in the picture. Is this normal, or is the nozzle still dirty?
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Thanks again. Looks like the spiralize setting works. I did a quick test with some single wall cylinders. Standard print is on the left, spiralized print is on the right.
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Thanks so much! I missed that setting.
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I have seen other programs that have a function that continuously lowers the build plate as a build progresses, thereby eliminating the seam lines where the build plate lowers. For example, when printing a cylinder the print head just goes round and round without any pause for each layer. Any way to get this type of printing in Cura?
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Thanks for the advice. I printed at 190°C with a 0.2 mm layer height and got ONE good print. Two other attempts after that failed. Maybe I'll try again at 0.25 mm but I've had enough of this stuff for today. Back to some PLA prints for now.
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I have been trying to make some prints on my UM2 of the UM robot in Laywoo-D3 on the normal quality defaults. I have tried at 190°C and 210°C (100% fan, 100% flow, 2.85 mm filament). I have tried with a 60°C bed and no heated bed. Each time the nozzle gets clogged and the print fails. I am not leaving the material in a hot nozzle. I clean the nozzle, get the laywood flowing nicely, and immediately print. Each time comes out like the picture. Any ideas on how to get this stuff to print? I know the wood fibers are up to 0.35 mm but I have read where people have successfully printed with 0.4 mm nozzles. Between the clogs and how easily the stuff snaps, I am starting to regret shelling out big bucks for this stuff.
PS-filament is feeding just fine, no skipping or grinding.
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Thank you. I marked and tightened each screw 1/4 turn. The lip on the bottom of the prints is smaller and no more excess plastic on the first layer.
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The UM2 just continues to impress! Printed this raven skull by 3D Kitbash today using the high quality quickprint setting at 215C with Ultimate-Blue PLA. Printed in just over 6 hours. The details are amazing, layers are barely visible.
Files are available on http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:289987.
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My UM2 is printing great. Print quality is unbelievable. However, I noticed the feeder skips on the first layer only and the nozzle pushes around excess PLA during the first layer (see pic). As the print progresses, it hides the errors of the first layer and the print ends up perfect with about a 0.5 mm lip on the first layer. Is my bed leveled too close to the nozzle? I thought about lowering the bed but I don't want to loose my adhesion. Any thoughts?
PET+ Trouble with infill
in Materials & profiles
Posted
Sorry for the late reply, I was expecting an email notification when I received a response. Anyway, you were both correct. I was printing at too low a temperature. I was misled by the PET+ printing temp specs listed as 220-250. I should have checked the MadeSolid printer settings first. Thank you1