The pinch gear in your printer’s extruder feed mechanism bites into the plastic filament. At issue is the differing hardnesses of the plastics used. Keep in mind that this calibration process should be repeated for different type of plastics. Once you can print a nice calibration box, you are ready to get back to printing. Then keep distinct slicing profiles for each extruder: one for the right extruder and another for the left extruder. If you happen to have two extruders, it is recommended to do this calibration once for each extruder. Go back to Step 3, reslicing, reprinting, and re-evaluating the result. Decrease the filament packing density (ReplicatorG), decrease the feedstockMultiplier (MakerWare and Desktop), or increase the extrusion multiplier (Simplif圓D). (c) If it is slightly hollow (concave), then too little plastic was extruded: your printer is under-extruding. Only change the value in small increments, such as 0.05. For Simplif圓D, reduce the “extrusion multiplier”. For MakerBot MakerWare and Desktop, increase the “feedstockMultiplier”. For ReplicatorG, increase the “filament packing density” in the Dimension plugin. How you will do this depends upon which slicer you use. Configure your slicing profile to put out slightly less plastic. (a) If it is nice and flat, then you are done! (b) If it is convex, then too much plastic was extruded and your printer is over-extruding. While it is easy to see if the top is convex, you may need to use a straight edge to gauge how flat or concave the top is. Carefully examine the top surface of the box. 4 It is critical that you use 100% infill and that you measure the diameter of your filament and input that to the slicer. With the calibration box model in your slicer, slice it at a 0.3 mm layer height, 100% infill, and using the diameter of the filament you just measured. Use calipers to measure the diameter of the filament with which you will be printing.
Alternatively, Thing #2064 at contains the calibration box as the download file 20mmbox.stl. ReplicatorG contains as its first example this calibration box: look under the Examples section of the File menu. Obtain a model for a 10 mm high box which is 20 mm on a side. Here is the step-by-step procedure for accomplishing this calibration:ġ. So, until you can print a good calibration box, there is little point in worrying about other printing defects you may be experiencing. Producing a respectable box involves calibrating a slicing profile to your printer and choice of filaments. Less little plastic strings pulling inwards on your walls, theoretically at least, should help.To achieve quality prints, start by ensuring that you can print a decent calibration “box” whose top is nice and flat. Give your layers time to cool slowly and settle a little.
My most general advice is that how much your print might warp or flex depends on the shape of the part you're printing, how much surface area is contacting the bed on the first layer, your infill levels, and print speed. Print a temp tower or some other temperature tests and see what works in your case. Do not get caught up in just raising bed temp to stop curling, it MIGHT help curling in some cases but you are also going to end up with deformed and sloppy lower layers.
The quality improved a lot more than you'd think by printing these ( ) and these ( ).įor hatchbox, I use 230C for the extruder, and the bed is at 100C for the first layer and 85C for the second onwards. I'm happy to say that I've been getting really great ABS prints on my flashforges for a while now. TL DR: 230C, 100C down to 85C, plug up the holes in the printer, slow down your print a bit, lower infill if reasonable. I've been trying to figure out if I can improve the surface finish of my parts any more. If anyone has any images of their best prints, please share them along with the settings they used. You can check out what my printer looks like, along with a new spool holder I just designed here: Specifically what do you think improves about the print when using these better hot ends?
With a little hair spray and these temp settings I'm hoping to push this printer to it's full - I haven't upgraded to the Micro Swiss hot end yet, but am considering it. Thank you for the feedback! I tried a print at 222C, 85C, 55mm/s this morning and got great results! The print has a more matte finish than usual, but the layer adhesion seems to be good enough, and there was no warping! I immediately upgraded to a glass bed when I bought the printer, and installed heat insulating sound dampening material on all the inner walls to help with chamber temperatures.