How can I improve this print?

[Greet 2]

As you can see in the image below my letters aren't completely filled.

Can anyone help me how to solve this?

I already tried a lot of things:

infill 100%

shell tickness 0.8 -> 1.2

layer height 0.1 -> 0.06

nozzle size 0.4 -> 0.42 and 0.4 -> 0.38 (+ adjust the shell thickness)

but nothing seems to solve this.

[cloakfiend 995]

Looks OK to me, just pop in a touch of filler and sand it and youre good to paint it.

But then again if you werent planning on painting it, try modelling it differently or exporting it differently, are you using cura or slicer, or printing hotter, or slower, bigger, smaller, there are tons of things you could try, or just accept the holes, they're not the end of the world, but seeing as i use my printer purely for art and always paint my stuff, slight imperfections are totally OK with me and easily fixed.

[swordriff 119]

Lower speed to 75mm/s

Lower temp to 210

increase Layer height to 0.2

Increase Bottom/top layer to 1mm

Have fun!

That material is difficult-ish.. But beautiful color.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

An easy solution could also be scaling it up a little (print the letters bigger) check in layer view how much is needed to get cura to fill the problem area.

[DidierKlein 729]

Maybe you can also increase the flow a bit on the top layers?

What size are the letters?

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Have you tried yet to increase the infill overlap by about five percent?

[tommyph1208 55]

You only stated the shell thickness, not the top/bottom thickness... So what were these?

[gr5 2,173]

Are the holes visible in cura slice view? If not ignore this whole post. If so don't even try to print it until they are mostly filled in visually in cura.

To do this you might want to print with a wider font (bold letters?) or you can reduce the nozzle size by a bit. For example I often lie and say the nozzle is .35mm and set shell to a multiple of that (ALWAYS DO THAT) such as .7mm shell. Then check it again in slice view to see if it looks better.

As you change the nozzle width in cura from .4mm to .3mm the quality gets a little worse but it is probably worth it for you needs here. Also consider increasing the flow a bit - maybe 150% - especially on the top layers.

[gr5 2,173]

If the holes *aren't* visible in slice view I have totally different advice by the way so please answer that question.

[swordriff 119]

How about in Cura setting the nozzle size to 0.1, then look in layer view.

The problem may be an extrapolation glitch which may occur when nozzle size/object size are not within "printable envelope".

[Greet 2]

Thank you for all the answers!

@cloakfiend I'm not going to paint it so that is not an option

@gr5 the holes are visible in cura when the nozzle size is 0.4mm. I already changed the nozzle size to 0.38 seeing your advice in an other post but the result was the same. I changed it to 0.42mm and then it looked okay in Cura, but the print had still the problem at the "n", and I could see I was creating other trouble zones. I always changed the shell thickness according the nozzle size. I will try another print with nozzle sie 35!

@swordriff do you think that this abs could print at 210? I printed this at 243 (speed: 50mm/s)

[swordriff 119]

ABS needs much more than 210. try 250

Keep nozzle at 0.40, try the Fix Horrible settings and use

Layer View in between setting trials to see if the holes are gone.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Guest

[danilius 118]

The problem is down to the physical impossibility of getting any plastic in there, because of the nozzle diameter.

So, either scale up the letters, or use the same font in bold or even heavier. Or use a different font.

[Greet 2]

I changed the nozzle size 0.4 -> 0.35, shell thickness 0.70. Because cura gave me a warning I also changed the initial layer thickness 0.3 -> 0.26. Is this necessary?

The result is already much better and I'm happy with this!

If I set the nozzle size to 0.32 or 0.30 the filament doesn't stick to the build plate so decreasing the nozzle size isn't an option.

[gr5 2,173]

You can leave bottom layer at .3mm I would also increase the flow a bit next - maybe 30 or 50%.

[gr5 2,173]

I printed this at 243 (speed: 50mm/s)

That sounds fast. Here are max recommended speeds for PLA (is this ABS or PLA? It looks like Ultimaker PLA but I can't tell):

Here are top recommended speeds for .2mm layers (twice as fast for .1mm layers):

20mm/sec at 200C

30mm/sec at 210C

40mm/sec at 225C

50mm/sec at 240C

The printer can do double these speeds but with huge difficulty and usually with a loss in part quality due to underextrusion.

[gr5 2,173]

Oh wait - so this *is* a reasonable speed. Never mind, lol.

[Greet 2]

I would also increase the flow a bit next - maybe 30 or 50%.

The flow is 100%, what do you mean by increasing it 30 or 50%? Do I need to set it to 130%? That sounds an awful lot.

 

That sounds fast. Here are max recommended speeds for PLA (is this ABS or PLA? It looks like Ultimaker PLA but I can't tell):

Here are top recommended speeds for .2mm layers (twice as fast for .1mm layers):

20mm/sec at 200C

30mm/sec at 210C

40mm/sec at 225C

50mm/sec at 240C

I print ABS (3dninja.nl), layer height 0.1mm. So the max speed for this temperature would be 100mm/sec?

[gr5 2,173]

150% sounds like a lot but I think you'd be surprised how small a difference it makes. Start with 130% though. If you have too high a flow the pressure may get too high and you might get a feeder skip-back followed by underextrusion.

[gr5 2,173]

Also it takes about 12 line movements before the change in flow takes place so you need to start the change well before the top layer.

[Greet 2]

Wow thanks a lot for the advice!

I used 130% of flow and now are the letters perfect!

[gr5 2,173]

Just to give you more ideas regarding text on prints - these are some drink clips that clip on a glass so you can keep track of who's glass it is.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Guest

[Greet 2]

These look very nice! I'm very curious how you do it. How do you change the filament at the right time? Doesn't the nozzle hit the letters when you print the white first layer? Are the 2 stl files?

[gr5 2,173]

I have made about 25 of these clips. There is only one model of the clip but many models printed in red filament. The Text is done only .1mm high both in the model and in Cura. In some examples I went .2mm high and it looks a bit darker/better.

Then the white model with a flat bottom is printed later on top. Two very important details: 1) the white model has a thicker bottom layer so it won't bump into the red layer. So the white part has a bottom layer of 0.3mm and the next can never be thicker than .2mm I assume. 2) The white model has a flat bottom - I don't bother making a different model with subtracted areas for the letters - no need. You can see this in my second image above where the white "bottom" layer is diagonal and ignoring the letters.

I always print 3 at a time - 3 bottom layer text and then 3 clips on top. It saves lots of time as the most time consuming part is changing filaments back and forth.

[gr5 2,173]

Also it's hard to get the bottom layer perfect (always adjusting flow and such) and so it may take 5 tries to get a good red layer but the remaining white part always works perfect.