I don't even know where to start. insanely bad quality.
So yeah... I've had a bad time with this. First I thought it was other filaments. Now I see I am having the issues with all of them.
I keep running calibration tests. EM seems to be on point. PA has been set to death using both pattern and tower method. Pretty similar results. Speeds are pretty conservative for a Ratrig. Profile, for now I am using stock to try and root out any issues.
I have run the SHAPER_CALIBRATE command.
I need a cooler head to prevail. Hoping someone can guide me to the right path.
106 Replies
Why did you start a new thread? Anyways... Let's get to some basics... For the photos shown - Material? Nozzle size? Temp? Cooling? Speed? I suggest turning off PA and input shaping for now (to remove them as variables).
I didn't want to contaminate the old thread or any new insights. There was already quite a bit going on in that thread.
Regarding current situation, this is PLA, tested between 180 and 230 with no significant changes. 0.4mm nozzle (CHT). Cooling goes from 0 to 100% in the first 4 layers.
How do I turn of PA and IS?
Set PA=0, comment out input shaper related lines in your config
You mean delete this portion?
Is this standard PLA or PLA+? And, could you send another photo of you hot-end assembly... I have some doubts that your fan ducts are able to get cooling where it is needed - not uncommon issue with large heat blocks
Standard PLA.
Correct
The way those corners seem to be lifting suggests to me that you need more cooling, and possibly more heat as well... What speeds are you at?
One thing to try is slowing down - both speed and accel - allow more time for those ducts to do their part
Pick a temp, say 195, set cooling to max, print a cube & cylinder, 20% rectilinear infill... Try it at 40mm/s - extreme, yes, but can't be afraid to experiment
Speeds are conservatively set for now.
Also, how amenable would you be to ditching the mosquito?
And the acceleration is well under the usuall values.
I am amenable, but since this is a company printer, I'd rather not if at all possible.
Drop all your speeds and accels to 1/3rd of their current values... If you can't print well going slow, def can't print well going fast
And just sent the print.
1h20m
Will report back once done.
Fingers crossed!
Solved
First impressions... looks good. The infill seems to be a bit thin, though.
Ooffff... Spoke too soon. Still hasn't finished and already I am seeing issues.
Seemed to have started off pretty solid. Then I noticed it was tapering in.
And then the issues started with the layers.
Is that supposed to be a cylinder?
Yes
That is pretty symptomatic of not enough cooling
100% sure your part cooling fans are running?
Yup. Spinning at 100%.
Both of them.
got a box fan or something you can stick in front of you printer while printing? If that helps you know it is a cooling issue
I think something is wonky. I noticed that my fan was turnong up and down. So I am manually watching the cube print and setting the fan to 100 at all times.
Hopefully you are on to something there... If not, take that hot end out back and shoot it
I'm no expert in fluid dynamics but that giant heat block looks like it deflects 2/3rds of the air coming out of those ducts, maybe more
Believe me... I have been close to shipping this back a couple of times. If it weren't for the persistence and mostly patience of the good folks here, would have done so long ago.
But I have been told time and time again that this is a good rig.
So I have to believe the problem isn't something that can't be fixed.
Well there we have it.
The tip layers are printing too slow, so they are bowing in.
But better now.
The rig itself is good... But that hot end is lacking... Just a bad design - very difficult to get cooling where it's needs
Seems the fan duct is pointing a bit towards the silicone sock.
Only part of the air is getting directed under it.
I'm removing the sock for the next test.
And I think I know where the problem was with the fan. The minimum layer print time for the fan to kick in was too high.
Set it to 10 seconds.
Set all fan values to 100% for PLA (except first layer)
Done and done.
Full send!
But still my fan does not start unless I force it in the Web UI.
I suppose you could look at the gcode and see if there is a command to set the fan speed... Not sure why it wouldn't turn on
Found the issue. Now printing with fan.
Still not mad about the infill. Pretty thin and you can tell it isn't sticking to the edges at parts.
But half way through and still looking decent.
what was the issue?
I'm still refering to the fan issue.
So I took off the silicone sock and figured out thoese -1 were disabling the fan.
After I removed the sock and put those -1 to 100, the fan starts at layer 2 as expected.
So far, looks pretty good.
The ducts really seem to be sitting way too high and cooling mainly the heater block, not the printed part.
nice! that's not a bad looking print... try again with the sock on as well - keep everything else the same... curious to see how much effect it has
this is the issue with the mosquito... the ducts are reasonably well positioned with respect to the nozzle - but that giant heat block disrupts the airflow - nothing much you can do about it other than consider a different hot-end
@nmgmarques so you ready to ditch the mosquito yet?
I suppose I need to consider it.
Parts just finished ant look good. I upped the speeds for this run.
whew! great to see that!
Yeah. The most optimistic I have been in months.
the sharp corners still look a little sketchy - try setting seams to continuous - will help figure out if corner issues are due to layer stop/start or something else
Ok
and, yeah - can start experimenting at this point with getting back to reasonable speeds
Ok.. I'll up to 75mm this time.
And bump the accelerations a bit more.
As for the corners, you are right.
Same issue I have seen many times.
The edges are "serrated".
The issue does not seem to be related to the seams, thought I am starting the print as per your suggestions.
It almost looks like it curls up every X layers.
yeah - when i've seen this in the past - typically fixed it with a little more heat and a little more cooling...
probably not layer stop/start issue but it's a variable we can control and eliminate
Print is starting now.
Will take approx half an hour this time.
will need to work a bit on bed adhesion too it seems 🙂
Decided to print both parts at same time instead of one by one.
Yes.
Didn't stick all too well.
what's your bed temp?
60
Is that a glass bed or something else?
Glass.
I can already tell the infill is breaking at the crossing points.
Though much better than before so far.
Still seems a bit thin.
To reiterate, glass with 3DLac sprayed onto it to help stick. But the 3DLac is running low. Need to respray for next run.
Haven't used glass myself ever so not much experience to draw from there... i've used glass with kapton tape on it
I have a steel pei sheet also, though I rather prefere the flatness of the glass bed.
you could try a few things for better adhesion... adhesive (which you already know)... increase width of first layer to 0.5 (to get more squish into the bed), increase first layer temp, increase bed temp
for sparse infill, i also increase width there to 120% of nozzle - might help with the breaking
Which of the infill?
but, in general, the more plastic you melt, the more cooling you are going to need - which I think with that hot-end, will be your limiting factor - particularly with PLA
'infill'
Done.
Best not change anything else for next run.
agreed
Or it'll be too many changed variables to know what affected what.
There is clearly some ringing.
And only the corner oposite the seam seems to have the issue.
Yeah, that's likely due to disabling input shaping... Can probably restore that now
Will do for next run.
Up to 100mm/s now.
With the increased temps came a bit of stringing. And also the edge issue is back.
But overall, very decent quality. Better than I have seen for some time, now.
And no more warping. If anything it actually stuck a bit too well to the bed.
I think I need to start playing around with EM and PA now.
def much better! next month, supposedly, the rapido 2.0 hot end is supposed come out. Maybe make the case at your company to move to a better hot-end if they really want to get the most out of the printer?
Shaper_calibrate only
Infill now looking strong.
Edges are a bit rounded but looking much better.
I see some seartion but that is on the seam edge, since I moved the seam directly to that edge.
So I guess it is to be expected.
What should I tune firts? EM or PA?
@sherbs
Yes, this is what I use.
Normally I do the PA then the EM.
However I have noticed that my PA seems to change after I do the EM.
So I have been doing PA, then EM, then again PA.
Not really sure if that is the right way, but the results seem to vary a bit from first to second PA run.
I normally do EM then PA
Ok
@blacksmithforlife Off topic for a bit... Why Blacksmith for life? Are you really a Blacksmith?
Hobbyist blacksmith
Ahhhh... Alright then.
You have some page or something where toy display your creations?
Nope, just stuff I have made I mostly give away to family and friends
Nice!
So Blacksmithing and 3D printing... I'm sensing you're a maker, or at least creatively inclined.
Yup. I love to work with my hands. I also do programming professionally, and many of my own home improvements
Programmer by trade here too... But, yeah, have always loved making things and figuring out how things work