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Z-axis resolution??


sam

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Posted · Z-axis resolution??

Hi peeps,

From the ultimaker website, stated there "Theoretical resolution: 0.0125 mm for the X and Y axis, the Z-axis is even more accurate!". SO, question is, what is the z-axis resolution that they said more accurate. What is the minimum thickness i can use for my printing? Any helps are appreciated. Thank you very much.

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??
    Hi peeps,

    From the ultimaker website, stated there "Theoretical resolution: 0.0125 mm for the X and Y axis, the Z-axis is even more accurate!". SO, question is, what is the z-axis resolution that they said more accurate. What is the minimum thickness i can use for my printing? Any helps are appreciated. Thank you very much.

    it depends on your print size, and your supply of patience, and your willingness to accept surface roughness. I print mostly at 0.2mm, simply because I need to get parts out fast. 0.1mm is a very practical and nice layer thickness, that makes a good surface, less than that is totally up to you. slice, print and see how you like it.

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

    Hi Joe,

    Thank you for ur answer. What bother me at this moment is, let say i want a really small thickness i.e. 0.01mm or lesser, can the machine print with the exact thickness? That's what i mean. Is there any thickness limitation from the printer itself? Thank you in advance.

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

    Hi Sam,

    For now the official Z axis layer resolution that is within reach without any magical powers would be 40 microns, so 0,04mm. I have seen some very nice looking experiments that go even thinner.

    So to answer your question, if you are able to create a good profile you can go up to 40 microns for sure.

    The hardware shouldn't be the problem.

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

    The theoretical maximum resolution of the z axis is much higher then you'll ever be able to achieve in practice... I think the z axis is technically capable of about 0.005mm resolution in theory (the distance of a single step on the motor), but getting reliable and precise extrusion to work without too much back-pressure below about 0.04mm is very difficult. I typically print at 0.08mm per layer, but I have managed to do 0.04 myself in the past and I've seen others achieve this. I've heard rumour of people going as low as 0.02, but that's really pushing it and I can't recall where I've seen that mentioned or if they had any success at that.

    There is a noticeable difference between 0.1 and 0.08, but even at 0.01 the detail you can get is incredible. You have to look really closely to see the layers.

    Cheers,

    Troy.

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

     

    http://davedurant.wordpress.com/2011/10 ... of-prints/

    Has a 0.02mm print from Paul Chandler. Who is like, the Ultimaker resolution wizard.

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

    - The 2-axis screw is 3mm/turn

    - For 1 turn you need 200 x 8 pulses (the Z axis stepper motor has 200 steps per turn, and is driven through 1/8 microsteping)

    So one pulse gives you a z-movement of 3/1600 mm, i.e. 0,001875mm which is the theoretical resolution on the z-axis.

    0,001875mm per pulse means you need 1/0,001875 (i.e. 533,33) pulses for moving 1mm.

    Which it's exactly what the step per Z says in the gcode :D :

    M92 X78.74 Y78.74 Z533.33 E865.89

    Obviously, in practice, this is just not reachable due to physical constraints on every involved part.

    Or maybe i'm wrong on the screw and microstepping values (e.g i's 6mm per turn and 1/16 microstepping) but for sure it is 533,33 pulses per mm, leading to 0,001875mm theoretical z-resolution

    ¨JP

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

    I have done a 0.02mm Z print once ever (they claimed it to be possible so I just had to try it!) - without too much tweaking from a normal profile in Cura, the results turned out reasonably well. In real life you can still see a slight texturisation if you're close up but to the casual observer it just appears as though it's matte.

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??
    http://davedurant.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/ultimaker-faq-but-what-about-the-quality-of-prints/

    Has a 0.02mm print from Paul Chandler. Who is like, the Ultimaker resolution wizard.

    Ty for the link. Sooo, is it possible in Cura as well? I'm going to try it. About the twisted bottle from stratasys, i tried before this using PLA, software RepG, turned out too many blob here and there, and the cap cannot close the bottle. Now i changed to Cura and ABS, and will re-print the model, hopefully the result will be satisfactory. I might post a picture later. Thank you!

     

    - The 2-axis screw is 3mm/turn

    - For 1 turn you need 200 x 8 pulses (the Z axis stepper motor has 200 steps per turn, and is driven through 1/8 microsteping)

    So one pulse gives you a z-movement of 3/1600 mm, i.e. 0,001875mm which is the theoretical resolution on the z-axis.

    0,001875mm per pulse means you need 1/0,001875 (i.e. 533,33) pulses for moving 1mm.

    Which it's exactly what the step per Z says in the gcode :

    M92 X78.74 Y78.74 Z533.33 E865.89

    Thank you for the elaboration :O , i can say u're amazing to come out with the theoretical z-axis value. Which by that, 0.01mm thickness also is achievable, right? I will experimenting with that. Thank you!

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

    In theory,yes. In practice I doubt one can achieve this on a stock ultimaker.

    It would mean that everything on your machine comply with this order of magnitude, i.e that:

    - your bed is perfectly flat

    - your bed is perfectly leveled

    - the z-axis play is well under 0.01mm

    - the vibrations during print don't make your bed move, or that the move is well under 0.01mm

    - your filament as a perfectly constant diameter

    And so on...

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

    well, i have seen a print at 0,02mm. I know it's not 0,01mm but you.... just sayin ;)

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??
    In theory,yes. In practice I doubt one can achieve this on a stock ultimaker.

    It would mean that everything on your machine comply with this order of magnitude, i.e that:

    - your bed is perfectly flat

    - your bed is perfectly leveled

    - the z-axis play is well under 0.01mm

    - the vibrations during print don't make your bed move, or that the move is well under 0.01mm

    - your filament as a perfectly constant diameter

    And so on...

    Well yeah it's hard to get those but i'll try my best. The first two are the critical part i couldn't achieve till now.

     

    well, i have seen a print at 0,02mm. I know it's not 0,01mm but you.... just sayin ;)

    So Mr. Sander as u're from UM will u tell me what's exactly the Z-axis resolution for UM printer? :?

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??
    So Mr. Sander as u're from UM will u tell me what's exactly the Z-axis resolution for UM printer? :?

    you were not satisfied with jpg's answer earlier? 0.001875mm/step... to avoid big rounding errors, I would suggest to slice your print at integer multiples of that value, i.e. 5 steps or 6 steps per layer (0.009375 or 0.01125mm) if you would like to try

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

    I tried a print at .3mm layer with .015 half layer sliced with Netfabb. It worked but the print wasn't noticeably better than the ultra profile, .08/.04.

    I had to stop the print after about 3 to 4 mm height as it curled up a full 90 degrees. Wasn't using a HBP. Curled like crazy for a print that was only 100mm long.

    I was printing one of these http://www.thingiverse.com/derivative:27214 I've printed a few of these normally and they came out no probs.

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

    - The 2-axis screw is 3mm/turn

    - For 1 turn you need 200 x 8 pulses (the Z axis stepper motor has 200 steps per turn, and is driven through 1/8 microsteping)

    So one pulse gives you a z-movement of 3/1600 mm, i.e. 0,001875mm which is the theoretical resolution on the z-axis.

    0,001875mm per pulse means you need 1/0,001875 (i.e. 533,33) pulses for moving 1mm.

    Which it's exactly what the step per Z says in the gcode  :D :

    M92 X78.74 Y78.74 Z533.33 E865.89

    Obviously, in practice, this is just not reachable due to physical constraints on every involved part.

    Or maybe i'm wrong on the screw and microstepping values (e.g i's 6mm per turn and 1/16 microstepping) but for sure it is 533,33 pulses per mm, leading to 0,001875mm theoretical z-resolution

    ¨JP

    In that case a layer height of 0.105 would give more consistent results.

    If a layer is 0.001875 mm off then the line widths change by 0.001875*0.35/0.1=0.0065625. This still less than the XY positioning accuracy, but it might have a cumulative effect with neighboring lines.

    I wonder whether this will make a difference on my 3D hatching results.

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    Posted · Z-axis resolution??

    Unless you are going to make really small parts, I have printed at 0.06 and 0.04 and the difference is really not worth all that extra time. I can prime, sand and finish a model in the extra time it takes to squeeze even those 20 extra microns out. I would have no idea what extra time a 20 micron print would take as it is an exponential progression in time and not linear. I think it follows the basic square/cube law.

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