First print and suggestions

[zmaster 0]

I have printed my first test object and i'd like to get some suggestions to adjust the settings. There are some things that have an obvious cause, but other do not or the solution is not obvious to me so your opinion would be appreciated.

So, here is my print, a 20x20x10 solid printed with 0.4mm layers, 3 walls, infill 50%, PLA 230°C:

The problems are:

1) The corners have some material in excess. This happens when the layers finishes and the Z is moved to the next position, the extruder seems to keep jamming. The retraction is already set to 3 mm. Not sure what i should do...

2) Some times layers do not stick together. I think this may be caused by (1) or too little material extruded.

3) The top is not filled to 100%. This is quite strange, too much material is missing, i'd say 30-40%

Other data:

Slicer: Slic3r

Firmware: Marlin generated with BuildMeMarlin (awesome work Daid!), default settings exept baudrate/endswitches

Control: Printer Interface bundled with SkeinPyPy

The PLA is metal grey supplied with the kit, the label indicates temperature >=220°C

I don't have the proper belts tension yet, i'll print the tensioners soon, but i don't think this is causing big issues right now apart low precision.

[Daid 304]

Perfect moment to blame slic3r! :mrgreen: (just joking)

The corner blobs could be caused by a high temperature. Even if the package says 220C, try lower. Because PLA already starts to go soft at 70C, and is usually printable at 200C.

I would suggest, go to 0.2mm layers, even at at 0.3mm layers I had problems with layers not sticking properly to each other. Also, both other problems look like "to litle extrusion", which might indicate your "Steps per E" is not right for your machine, or you didn't measure your filament thickness right.

[zmaster 0]

Uhm... at 200°C layers do not stick together, i need to stay at 220°C which also makes the object easier to remove from the platform while at 230°C it was really hard.

At 0.2mm layers height problem (2) is solved.

But i want to try another slicer because i think something is wrong with slic3r. By the way Daid, how do i set the extrusion temperature in SkeinPyPy-NewUI-Beta2 ? I don't see any field to configure it.

[Daid 304]

The Beta2 doesn't configure the temperature. You'll need to pre-heat yourself. This is because the startcode also does a bit of extrusion, which was impossible with the Skeinforge temperature settings. So I opted to leave the temperature setting out of the Beta2.

Beta3 will have a temperature setting, which will be an M109 at the start at the code, before your own startcode. 2nd option in the middle:

(Screenshot of current development version)

Beta3 will also feature M92 Exxx calibration, firmware install, Depth Complexity view, better GCode preview and various fixes. I hope to have Beta3 out by Friday.

[zmaster 0]

I think retraction creates more problems that it solves, or at least the speed was too low so the effect was to get even more jamming.

Disabling it solved issue (1).

I also printed and installed belt tensioners: this plus 0.2mm layer height also solved problem (3).

I finally printed my real first object:

(here it has already been cleaned)

Not bad for day 3

About SkeinPyPy, i figured out that i could manually set the temperature as you said. But printing the sample it used a strange fill pattern, even if i selected rectangular:

////

////

////

I then noted that problems (1) and (3) were still present so i went back to slic3r and finally fixed everything.

I think Skein is probably more powerful but slic3r is catching up fast for what i have read. It also sliced yoda in 5 mins

What i like in Skein is the preview so you can immediately see how big the object is, etc. That Depth Complexity View you talked about could be actually useful, printing yoda i have seen 4 unnecessary fillings, probably caused by some faces inside the mesh.

[Daid 304]

About SkeinPyPy, i figured out that i could manually set the temperature as you said. But printing the sample it used a strange fill pattern, even if i selected rectangular:

\/\/\/\/\

\/\/\/\/\

\/\/\/\/\

Odd. The fill pattern should be in "line" that generates just a simple raster. Which is the fastest to print. (other settings might be stronger) Rectangular didn't produce rectangles for me as well, not sure what it does... silly Skeinforge.

 

I think Skein is probably more powerful but slic3r is catching up fast for what i have read. It also sliced yoda in 5 mins

What i like in Skein is the preview so you can immediately see how big the object is, etc. That Depth Complexity View you talked about could be actually useful, printing yoda i have seen 4 unnecessary fillings, probably caused by some faces inside the mesh.

One day, SkeinPyPy will also use Slic3r to slice models. It's not that depended on Skeinforge

The Yoda doesn't have holes or wrong faces, but it does have problems at the eye areas, those are extra spheres inside the model. Not something the depth complexity really shows, but you can see it with it. You can also see it with transparency mode. It does take a long time to slice it, even with SkeinPyPy.

[mr_seeker 0]

I have printed my first test object and i'd like to get some suggestions to adjust the settings. There are some things that have an obvious cause, but other do not or the solution is not obvious to me so your opinion would be appreciated.

So, here is my print, a 20x20x10 solid printed with 0.4mm layers, 3 walls, infill 50%, PLA 230°C:

 

The problems are:

1) The corners have some material in excess. This happens when the layers finishes and the Z is moved to the next position, the extruder seems to keep jamming. The retraction is already set to 3 mm. Not sure what i should do...

2) Some times layers do not stick together. I think this may be caused by (1) or too little material extruded.

3) The top is not filled to 100%. This is quite strange, too much material is missing, i'd say 30-40%

Other data:

Slicer: Slic3r

Firmware: Marlin generated with BuildMeMarlin (awesome work Daid!), default settings exept baudrate/endswitches

Control: Printer Interface bundled with SkeinPyPy

The PLA is metal grey supplied with the kit, the label indicates temperature >=220°C

I don't have the proper belts tension yet, i'll print the tensioners soon, but i don't think this is causing big issues right now apart low precision.

There are just 2 things you need to change:

filament_diameter = 2.94 (best is if you measure the filament, it is not exactly 3mm)

nozzle_diameter = 0.4

Then I can guarantee an almost perfect print