Best setup UMO+

[AL21784 1]

Hi guys,

 

So I’ve got this old machine printing, however some of the prints weren’t great. 
 

Here’s what I’ve done so far. 

I’ve put a new 0.4mm nozzle and ensured the feed tube is completely free. 
 

I’ve repositioned the X axis limit switch 5mm to the right as the nozzle block hit the frame. It now auto homes without issue. 
 

I printed a cube and it was leaning to the left slightly,  so I used my callipers and noticed the Y axis wasn’t straight, so undid and adjusted the truck to get it as straight as possible.

 

I’ve lowered the print speed from 60mm/s to 50mm/s printing PLA with temps of 60/200. 
 

I’m using cura and I’d prefer quality over speed, what can I change/ adjust to  improve the quality of the prints. 
 

I’ve also levelled the bed and used the paper pinch technique cura says. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by AL21784

[gr5 2,167]

When you print a cube are the vertical corners still so ugly?  If so then it could be that the temperature is varying (you'd see it I think if you stare at the display for 5 minutes - it would have to vary by at least 5C but more likely 10 or 15C).

 

Or more likely the grease is just very dirty and old.  I'd remove the Z screw, clean it completely clean with WD40 over newspaper or something.  With an old tootbrush.  Then wipe as dray as possible and reassemble.  Add just one dab of grease.  A pea sized amount is enough to cover the whole screw.

 

Or if you think it's fine and you think I'm nuts, just clean the top few inches (the section used to print your cubes).  It's triple helix so stick a toothpick or something (covered with paper towel?) into each of the 3 grooves.  If you clean one groove you'll miss the other 2.

[gr5 2,167]

It might not be the Z screw.  I see the pattern seems to match the X.  It could be you are retracting too much (or not enough).

 

With the feeder open (no pressure on the filament) tug on the bowden at the top of the print head and the top of the feeder.  The bowden should not have any play - it should not easily move up and down even 1mm.  Even 0.1mm.  If it does then you are putting the bowden in wrong.  For the head it's easiest to loosen the 4 screws a few turns, put the bowden in and retighten until there is no play.

 

If there is no play on either end of the bowden then use retraction amount of between 4mm and 4.5mm.  Don't go outside that range.  You don't want the filament to actually pull up out of the head - you want just enough for the filament to stop pushing so hard and rest on the other side of the inside of the bowden (at the top of the arc of the bowden).

[AL21784 1]

18 hours ago, gr5 said:

It might not be the Z screw.  I see the pattern seems to match the X.  It could be you are retracting too much (or not enough).

 

With the feeder open (no pressure on the filament) tug on the bowden at the top of the print head and the top of the feeder.  The bowden should not have any play - it should not easily move up and down even 1mm.  Even 0.1mm.  If it does then you are putting the bowden in wrong.  For the head it's easiest to loosen the 4 screws a few turns, put the bowden in and retighten until there is no play.

 

If there is no play on either end of the bowden then use retraction amount of between 4mm and 4.5mm.  Don't go outside that range.  You don't want the filament to actually pull up out of the head - you want just enough for the filament to stop pushing so hard and rest on the other side of the inside of the bowden (at the top of the arc of the bowden).

Hi mate, 

 

Thank you, I'll clean the Z axis later when I get home from work. see if that helps. it is looking a little dirty and so I doubt it would hurt, I'll also check out the boden tube movement, although I'm fairly sure it's reasonably static. 

 

There is very little temp fluctuations. +/- 2 degrees C, at very most 

 

So within Cura, I changed some settings;

Skin and Infill overlap percentage (30%)
-Alternate extra wall (enabled)
-Compensate wall overlaps (enabled)

 

I got the results below. the sides are perfect, details are nice and crisp and no rough edges. 

 

Ironing wasn't turned on for this print, however I have a feeling it may have been on earlier prints, I noticed the top layer was set to 0 for some reason, I'll adjust this up and enable ironing, see what results this gives me. 

 

The top almost looks like it was under extruding, even though it was extruding perfectly for the rest of the layers as I stood and watched it. again, I think this is a setting I need to address, rather than a fault with the printer. 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by AL21784

[gr5 2,167]

In your first post I wasn't sure if you were showing before/after photos or what you were trying to show.  But in this post the very last pictures is severely underextruded.  Is it supported?  UMO is notorious for underextruding as getting the feeder setup right is tricky.  Please post a photo.  The spring in the feeder should be compressed to about 13mm.  Yeah - that's really tight.

 

1) I guess you should post your project file: go to menu "file" "save...".  The resulting file contains not only your STL but the scaling, positioning.  Also it has your machine (printer) settings, your material settings, your profile used, and settings that you overrode.  Please post that here.

 

2) Please include photo of the feeder.

 

[gr5 2,167]

Correction: 11mm.  Read this thread: 

 

[AL21784 1]

Hi mate, 

 

Thank you once again for your help. 
 

Right, so I’ve adjusted the extruder screw tensioner in to 11mm from the black part to the washer as you said.  
 

I disabled ironing but added 1 top surface layer.  And these are the results. 
 

I think this is probably the best print I’ve had from it as of yet! 

[gr5 2,167]

Okay!  It's time to print something useful!  If you can't think of anything walk around your house looking at everything until you realize, "Hey I could use this thing here in the kitchen to hold this other thing".  And yeah you can probably buy it for £2 but why not design it and print it yourself!