Issues printing hexagons vertically
I need help tuning the MK4 to print hexagon sided boxes.
I've had these machines for a while now and it seems arbitrary when it will print a hexagon box and when it won't. I've used several machines, so I am convince it's slicer settings.
I have designed the boxes myself so I can change geometry to do tests. I have tried increasing the thickness of the verticals in X and Y, to no avail.
I have tried both Arachne and classic pathing, I have tried slowing the print down by up to 65%, both in the slicer and while printing with tuning.
What are your print secrets to get hexagons to print?
RE: Issues printing hexagons vertically
Rotate 90 so you aren't dealing with 60 degree overhangs -- it's likely you're dealing with curled overhangs, which the nozzle is running into and snapping off the weak geometry.
Rotating will result in minimal overhangs, and just standard bridging to complete the top.
RE: Issues printing hexagons vertically
That is very interesting, I thought the point of hexagons was to point them vertical to allow for support-less printing.
Every hexagon I have designed has been under that assumption. I will have to give it a test and ignore the warnings in the slicer.
Thank you.
RE:
Do you have a suggestion on the size of the hexagons to avoid long bridges?
RE: Issues printing hexagons vertically
If you're printing in petg, probably don't go over 5mm for bridges. For PLA, go crazy.
RE: Issues printing hexagons vertically
I have been 3D printing for ages, always using vertical hexagons but this worked so well I am deeply annoyed at my previous assumptions.
Thank you very much.
The solution for printing vertically hexagons is to not, points horizontal is the way.
RE: Issues printing hexagons vertically
It’s all in the angle of the dangle! The hexagon angles are 60 degrees, which is about the limit for most printers. You might get better results with tweaking printer settings, OR, you could print diamonds (squares rotated 45 degrees) instead of hexagons. There is a Prusa test print (Scandic something?) that exploits even more severe overhangs. You might look into that for more tips. Cheers!