Yowan

@SandervG - That certainly made a difference - will continue with some larger test pieces but printing WITHOUT Auto levelling has produced a far more dimensionally accurate part - much appreciated!

Yeah, absolutely - will try anything! Will give it a go and let you know - thanks.

I have a machined component which has various curved surfaces that I've be trying to re-create with a 3D print, so that I can have it machined in-house. However, getting the settings correct to ensure an accurate dimensional replica is printed is proving problematic! I suppose it's more about establishing some standard default settings for printing using PLA (with PVA support where applicable) The actual piece I'm looking to print is approximately 150mm x 150mm x 90mm but whether I print a small test cube 20mm^3 or the main part, there gaps between the layers that increase the overall dimensions. I've tried orientating the part in different ways but that just means it#s thicker in a different axis. Active leveling is enabled and I'm happy with the 4.94mm dimension - it's the 6.21mm which highlights the problem; 1.2mm over a 20mm is far too much and when you apply that to the main part I'm trying to print - it results in being 3mm wider than it should, which is not acceptable for my application. The expansion is only in the Z axis - X and Y axis are spot on.............bit of a head scratcher! I'm wondering if it's because of speed or temperature or something else?!

I'm playing around with settings and printing some small test pieces to establish the best parameters for printing parts and keep finding the printed parts are thicker than the modelled part. It looks like some of the initial layers aren't as close to each other as they should be which when accumulated increases the overall thickness of the part. Any ideas on how to address this please? The thickness of the part in each photo should be the same (5mm). I've attached the stl file for reference as well. Test Cube.stl