UM3 text issue

[Ziogianni84 3]

Hello, I'm having hard time to print this design which has on each arm an engraved number that as you can see doesn't come out pretty well.

The subtle profile of each number is filled out with filament that wasn't supposed to be there. It could be an infill issue (set to 30%) which maybe doesn't provide a stable foundation for the top layer (thickness set to 2mm) and at the end the numbers do not show up. Otherwise any guesses?

Edited November 12, 2017 by Guest

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Could be the model too.

What material are you using?

How deep is the text supposed to be?

[Ziogianni84 3]

Could be the model too.

What material are you using?

How deep is the text supposed to be?

 

it's PLA and the depth is set to be 2mm. Btw I changed it since it was 0.5mm

[kmanstudios 1,120]

By my tests so far, 2mm should be just fine for inset testing.

How does it look in layer view? Can you post a screenshot?

[Ziogianni84 3]

it looks good

[kmanstudios 1,120]

That is interesting. Is there any way that you can make the model available without violating any terms or conditions?

[Ziogianni84 3]

That is interesting. Is there any way that you can make the model available without violating any terms or conditions?

On thingiverse I have already shared it but so far I don't remember how deep the groove was... And right now I'm unable to check it: https://goo.gl/FJdQCC

Edited November 15, 2017 by Guest

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I took a look at the file you linked to. The text itself is less than 2mm in size. That means it would probably close up unless you go very slow and with cooler than normal temps.

I did a slice of the model and there were areas that the 'center dots', like the inside of the smaller 4, does not appear and in other places, like inside the numbers 5 or 6, are just one splooge of filament. That is mighty fine for a 0.4 nozzle.

If you made the file, try to increase the font size in your master file as much as you can.

Edited November 15, 2017 by Guest

[geert_2 556]

Last year I tried all sorts of small text, both positive text (lines on top of a surface) and negative text (hollows). The characters need to be ca. 3.5mm high, and each leg or line needs to be 0.5mm wide, for acceptable results with a 0.4mm nozzle. Character height/depth is not much of a problem: 0.2mm to 0.5mm is fine. Print slow and cool: 190°C and 25mm/s for PLA, for example.

[Ziogianni84 3]

I took a look at the file you linked to. The text itself is less than 2mm in size. That means it would probably close up unless you go very slow and with cooler than normal temps.

I did a slice of the model and there were areas that the 'center dots', like the inside of the smaller 4, does not appear and in other places, like inside the numbers 5 or 6, are just one splooge of filament. That is mighty fine for a 0.4 nozzle.

If you made the file, try to increase the font size in your master file as much as you can.

Yes now I recall, the version on thingiverse is old and the font size was too small to be printed. Indeed if you compare your sliced version with the one I posted previously the font size is clearly different. Later I'll post the newer STL...

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I took a look at the file you linked to. The text itself is less than 2mm in size. That means it would probably close up unless you go very slow and with cooler than normal temps.

I did a slice of the model and there were areas that the 'center dots', like the inside of the smaller 4, does not appear and in other places, like inside the numbers 5 or 6, are just one splooge of filament. That is mighty fine for a 0.4 nozzle.

If you made the file, try to increase the font size in your master file as much as you can.

Yes now I recall, the version on thingiverse is old and the font size was too small to be printed. Indeed if you compare your sliced version with the one I posted previously the font size is clearly different. Later I'll post the newer STL...

I was wondering why the discrepancy. But I would still make the fonts larger than in your original post, or make them positive, as in protruding above the surface...or, even both.

I would also use geert_2's post as a solid guideline for sizing of text.

Edited November 15, 2017 by Guest

[Ziogianni84 3]

I took a look at the file you linked to. The text itself is less than 2mm in size. That means it would probably close up unless you go very slow and with cooler than normal temps.

I did a slice of the model and there were areas that the 'center dots', like the inside of the smaller 4, does not appear and in other places, like inside the numbers 5 or 6, are just one splooge of filament. That is mighty fine for a 0.4 nozzle.

If you made the file, try to increase the font size in your master file as much as you can.

Yes now I recall, the version on thingiverse is old and the font size was too small to be printed. Indeed if you compare your sliced version with the one I posted previously the font size is clearly different. Later I'll post the newer STL...

I was wondering why the discrepancy. But I would still make the fonts larger than in your original post, or make them positive, as in protruding above the surface...or, even both.

I would also use geert_2's post as a solid guideline for sizing of text.

Point is that I have as constraint the width of each single arm so I cannot increase text size as much as I'd like to

[DidierKlein 729]

Did you try with print thin walls enabled? This looks indeed very small to print.

Maybe you could use something else than numbers? Maybe add some dots or something to identify?

Or print with a smaller nozzle?

Edited November 15, 2017 by Guest

[rowiac 53]

Have you already tried a smaller Line Width in Cura? I've adjusted that down to 0.3mm in the past to improve text or print small features that disappear during slicing. It looks like Cura will allow you to adjust a 0.4mm nozzle's line width down to 0.26mm before it complains (turns the field orange as a warning), for a UMO+ anyway.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Point is that I have as constraint the width of each single arm so I cannot increase text size as much as I'd like to

Turn it sideways?

[Ziogianni84 3]

Point is that I have as constraint the width of each single arm so I cannot increase text size as much as I'd like to

Turn it sideways?

Ok i've uploaded version 2 https://goo.gl/FJdQCC

Turning it sideways? The space available is almost the same both on the top and on the side of the design.

[Ziogianni84 3]

Have you already tried a smaller Line Width in Cura?  I've adjusted that down to 0.3mm in the past to improve text or print small features that disappear during slicing.  It looks like Cura will allow you to adjust a 0.4mm nozzle's line width down to 0.26mm before it complains (turns the field orange as a warning), for a UMO+ anyway.

I'll try to tweak my line width setting... so far it's set to 0.35mm

Edited November 15, 2017 by Guest

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Point is that I have as constraint the width of each single arm so I cannot increase text size as much as I'd like to

Turn it sideways?

Ok i've uploaded version 2 https://goo.gl/FJdQCC

Turning it sideways? The space available is almost the same both on the top and on the side of the design.

I dunno...I gots 'em purty big there budreaux...

May not be the aesthetic you wished for, but it can be done.

[Ziogianni84 3]

Point is that I have as constraint the width of each single arm so I cannot increase text size as much as I'd like to

Turn it sideways?

Ok i've uploaded version 2 https://goo.gl/FJdQCC

Turning it sideways? The space available is almost the same both on the top and on the side of the design.

I dunno...I gots 'em purty big there budreaux...

May not be the aesthetic you wished for, but it can be done.

tried with a different line width (3.0mm) but no way! I suppose that rotating the text along the arms is the only solution... I'll give it a try later. Did you keep the original text size?

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Point is that I have as constraint the width of each single arm so I cannot increase text size as much as I'd like to

Turn it sideways?

Ok i've uploaded version 2 https://goo.gl/FJdQCC

Turning it sideways? The space available is almost the same both on the top and on the side of the design.

I dunno...I gots 'em purty big there budreaux...

May not be the aesthetic you wished for, but it can be done.

 tried with a different line width (3.0mm) but no way! I suppose that rotating the text along the arms is the only solution... I'll give it a try later. Did you keep the original text size?

Nope...beefed it up by quite a bit....

Model if'n ye be wantin' it matey.

[geert_2 556]

Forgot to say in my previous post: raised text (lines on top of a surface) usually comes out better than recessed text (hollows).

In recessed text, corners tend to be cut off due to the elasticity of the molten material while printing, and the printer always has trouble with characters like N, R, K, 9, etc... Especially the capital N: the 0.4mm nozzle can't get into the sharp corners (remember that the characters are only 3.5mm high), thus this gives a very deformed diagonal line.

In my tests, printing text on side-walls gave far worse results than on the top, because all corners are rounded to 0.4mm (at best), thus losing all fine definition, and the layer lines and overhangs interfere with the characters. It becomes a blurr.

Text on the bottom also does not work: due to the squeezing of the first layer, and due to slight elephant feet for good adhesion, it gets closed down.

However, "watermarks", thus voids totally inside the material, do work well. At least if the material is transparant or translucent, so you can see it. Solid text surrounded by a void works slightly better than hollow characters. In this case I recommend to make the text between 0.5 and 1mm high, for characters of 3.5mm and line-widths of 0.5mm. See the images.

Why lines of 0.5mm width instead of 0.4mm for a 0.4mm nozzle: the conversion from geometric shapes and splines to STL-triangles does cut corners, and then on some spots the line-width will get less than 0.4mm. This causes trouble in the slicer: it doesn't print lines smaller than 0.4mm (unless you start messing with other parameters). If you go for 0.5mm lines, you don't risk this, and it doesn't matter if the line ends up 0.48 or 0.52mm.

Use fonts with equal line widths, or at least use bold or heavy fonts. I designed my own simple character set for 3D-printing: it took less time to draw this once, than repairing other characters in the 3D-design every time.

[nzo 16]

Geert - is this a typeface/character set I might use?

Thank you.

[geert_2 556]

Geert - is this a typeface/character set I might use?

Thank you.

It is not a font. It is a design I made in DesignSpark Mechanical, thus flat surfaces that I can pull into 3D-shapes. Created on a 0.25mm grid.

I don't mind other people using it, but you do need DesignSpark Mechanical, as it is in its native RSDOC-fileformat. I will put this character set online (probably begin next week), together with some other stuff.

The way I use it, is by copying and moving required characters into the desired text, and snap them on a 0.25mm or 0.5mm grid for alignment. And then I pull this into 3D-text, and apply it to the model, by adding or subtracting as required.

Obviously this method is not suitable for setting huge quantities of bodytext for a newspaper in 3D. But for a single copyright notice or an On/Off label, it works well enough.

[Ziogianni84 3]

I moved the text sideways like kmanstudios suggested and the result is pretty neat! Moreover I changed the font to Candara which has a thinner profile, with a hollow extrusion set to 0.5mm and a font size of 6.

Uploaded as V3 https://goo.gl/FJdQCC

Edited November 19, 2017 by Guest