what exactly resolution can we print?

[alaris2 1]

someone asked me what the theoretical max resolution and real max resolution we could print with UM was.

I thought the first question would be easy, but can't find the answer anywhere - it would be calculated from the gear ratio, microsteps and steps per degree for the motors of course. does anyone happen to know the answer tho?

the second question I was going to say 0.1mm in z (but there are occasional reports of people doing better in extraordinary circumstances) but I'm not sure what to say for X and Y. I realize repeatability is an issue here - is it fair to say 0.1mm in all axes perhaps?

what do others think?

[joergen 2]

someone asked me what the theoretical max resolution and real max resolution we could print with UM was. I thought the first question would be easy, but can't find the answer anywhere - it would be calculated from the gear ratio, microsteps and steps per degree for the motors of course. does anyone happen to know the answer tho?

the second question I was going to say 0.1mm in z (but there are occasional reports of people doing better in extraordinary circumstances) but I'm not sure what to say for X and Y. I realize repeatability is an issue here - is it fair to say 0.1mm in all axes perhaps?

The XY steppers produce 78.7402 steps per mm or 0.0127mm per step, which is about the same as what is doable with the z resolution, printing super thin layers. keep in mind that this is the positioning, not the actual printing resolution, since squirting molten plastic through a 0.4mm nozzle doesn't have the same precision. but the XY resolution also depends on your model, since almost everything is represented as polygons, not true curves.

[alaris2 1]

thanks Joergen, and good point about the models too. I think de-rating by a factor of 8 is quite fair then!