Using filament diameter to cure under extrusion

[Mofroggy 0]

I am not too sure that the header is an accurate description of what I am asking. I am underextruding and I was wondering if I changed the filament "diameter" under "Material/diameter" option in 3.4.1 whether that would cure the problem instead of messing with the esteps.  I have seen a bunch of YouTube videos on calibrating esteps and I know how to get the % over or under but none of the YouTube videos I have found tell you WHAT TO DO once you get this number. I assume that there is a gcode that needs to be inserted somewhere but the videos don't show how to do that for my printers. I have 2 Ender3's and one CR-10S.

I guess what I am asking is will changing the diameter setting be a way to "cheat" and not have to go through the estep calibration thing. 

[gr5 2,026]

Yes, changing the diameter is a way to cheat.  You set the diameter smaller to get it to extrude more.  The area is the square of the diameter so you have to adjust by the square root of what you what changed.  For example if you want to increse by 10% you need to find the square root of 0.90 times the current diameter.

 

However it's even easier to set the "flow".  In cura you set the flow to 110% and it will extrude 110% more than nominal.

 

For setting steps/mm you can follow these instructions here which should be identical for creality printers versus ultimaker printers:

 

[yellowshark 153]

Why cheat rather than fix the problem?! Personally I would not use e-steps as a cheat as that affects accuracy, which of course may not be important to you. Anyway it is far too complicated compared  with other options, as @gr5 says Flow is a quick easy cheat. But it is still cheating in my book; fix your problem and I am sure you will get more consistent better looking prints

[Mofroggy 0]

Yellowshark,

I am not sure what you mean by "fix the problem". Any help very much appreciated!

Joe

[geert_2 556]

4 minutes ago, Mofroggy said:

Yellowshark,

I am not sure what you mean by "fix the problem". Any help very much appreciated!

Joe

Probably: "handle the real cause of the problem, rather than searching a way around it"?

 

If the real cause would be for example a dirty and partially clogged nozzle, then the solution would be to clean that. Other possible causes might be incorrect feeder calibration (e-steps?), wrong feeder wheel tension and partial slipping, worn-out parts in the print head, too much friction somewhere, too low temperature, too high speed, or other things along this line... But I don't know your printers, so I can't really make educated guesses.

 

A cheat is good as temporary solution, to get urgent jobs finished. But it is not a stable solution to rely on forever.

 

[Mofroggy 0]

Thanks.  I will look at all of that other stuff.

Joe

[yellowshark 153]

Indeed 🙂 @geert_2 has listed the likely causes for you. You say you have 3 printers but it is not clear if you area suffering with all 3? If you are then it is more likely to be your Cura settings than a hardware problem. Vice versa if it is only 1 printer with the problem. It could also be the reel of filament you are use so worth trying nother reel also.