Stability Issue

[Kermit65 0]

Hello Makers!

I am a producer of 3D printed gadgets for fish tanks. Right now I am working on a feeder for seahorses. I construct in Sketchup, slice with Cura and print on an Ultimaker 2 with PLA.

The print was sliced with default "High Quality" setting, support touching buildplate and infill of 40%.

Unfortunately the 4 pieces (which are meant to hold an acrylic tube) are not very firmly attached to the surface and with little force break (just broke one when I removed the support).

Any idea how I could improve this?

[DidierKlein 729]

Hi,

Interesting project

For your problem it seems to like your print is underextruded could you share your print parameters and material used?

I would also change the design a bit to add more strength to those 4 pieces, maybe add some chamfers could help?

Increase the infill also, are you sure it's 40% ?

[tinkergnome 927]

Hi @Kermit65,

if i were you..., i would... (in ascending order)

 

• add a small chamfer to the edges where the small parts are attached to the base
  
• printing with zero infill but a larger shell width instead (try 1.2mm - 3 shells)
  
• increase the layer height to (at least) 0.1 and increase the bottom/top thickness to (at least) 1.0mm - i even think there will be no drawbacks if you use a combination of 0.12 / 1.2
  
• consider to split the parts in a different way (to make it printable without support)
  

 

Edit:

...and don't use the default speed settings - the default infill speed (80 mm/s) is way too fast IMHO. Set all speeds to the same value (or the advanced speed settings all to zero) - and choose 40mm/s as the basic print speed.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Guest

[macua85 52]

Definitely under extrusion signs there. I'd do an atomic pull (or a few) to clear the nozzle. Also doesn't look like 40% infill, which version of cura are you using? I think the latest one has a bug on the infill settings. As mentioned by others, if you fix under extrusion and up the wall thickness it should be a pretty solid part.

Edit, looks like you used support structure, which is why it looks like under extrusion but may not be. Can you show the rest of the print?

Edited July 23, 2015 by Guest

[ahoeben 1,955]

A chamfer is your best bet at creating a sturdier connection between the base and the prong. Sloping walls are thicker in the horizontal plane than vertical walls, so you get more contact surface between the horizontal and vertical wall if there is a chamfer of about a mm or 2).

[Kermit65 0]

Hi There

thank you very much for your valuable input. I have redesigned the part and added a fat chamfer.

Printing now with a shell of 1.6mm and a bottom/top thickness of 1.2mm.

Best Regards

Andreas