Heatwaves add to the turbulent English year

[yellowshark 153]

This is the first time it has happened to us. Printing in England is normally trouble free when it comes to environmental conditions; in Autumn, Winter and Spring if anything one will be heating the printer room. We run at 20/21 c. This week with England having experienced the hottest day in June for 40 years  or more, the room hit 29/30 c for at least three days consecutively, right in the middle of a production run of 100 units. What a mess, lots of poor finishes, gaps between walls, playing around with Flow% to try and get it better and unbelievable shrinkage.

The part we were printing fits onto a belt and so has a loop on both sides (i.e. sausage shaped “circles” ) with a specification of 4.0mm width for the vertical gap. Having adjusted the model dims. for shrinkage we always (95%+) get within 50 microns for this part which is fine. This week most of our readings were 3.60-3.70 with some down to 3.50 or so. Unfortunately we had printed a large quantity before starting QA and discovering the problem :angry:. So there has been lots of Dremeling and filing these past two days! Plus reprints this weekend to replace poor quality.

Weather temps are back to normal, as is the printing operation. You learn by experience and we shall certainly not be leaving QA so long the next time temps get insane!!

Edited June 24, 2017 by Guest

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I agree...environmental conditions can radically change things and usually within a matter of minutes....like 20 or so minutes if severe enough. All your material has to be is hydroscopic or temperature sensitive.

This happened to me within that time period.

Edited June 24, 2017 by Guest

[SandervG 1,521]

It became apparent to me at shows where we went, in humid rooms in Italy during summer, for example, it showed up in the print immediately. We could throw our current print profiles right out of the window

At other shows where we were partially outside and there was a strong draft was also far from ideal. But the good thing was we can just tweak the profiles until the print quality was somewhat within recognition again. Were you printing with regular PLA?

[yellowshark 153]

Yup we wereusing Colorfabb Dutch orange, which we use quite a lot but I could just not get it right. The worst point was the walls separating. They printed just fine but then small gaps would appear. I have never seen that before and we have printed hundreds of this part. It was not everywhere along every wall but enough for us to reject them.

We got an extra day on delivery and by tonight I think we will have reprinted 50-60 of the original 100 :angry: :angry: :angry:

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Yup we wereusing Colorfabb Dutch orange, which we use quite a lot but I could just not get it right. The worst point was the walls separating. They printed just fine but then small gaps would appear. I have never seen that before and we have printed hundreds of this part. It was not everywhere along every wall but enough for us to reject them.

We got an extra day on delivery and by tonight I think we will have reprinted 50-60 of the original 100 :angry::angry::angry:

ooff! I feel your pain.

[geert_2 557]

For PLA, try putting a desktop fan (ca. 30cm diameter) at a distance of 3m in front of the printer, and let it blow at lowest speed towards the printer. It should not create a storm wind, but just a nice breeze. This extra air circulation prevents/reduces local heat build-up: it helps a lot for me.

[yellowshark 153]

Thanks @geert_2 certainly no harm in giving that a try. Although of course now it is cooler and raining, British weather for you!! I was wondering yesterday whether it was the heat or maybe it was the humidity? Not something we normally suffer from where I live but it was sure humid last week.