Noob trying to figure out if my print times/speeds are normal
I knew when I dove into 3D printing that I wasn't buying a star trek replicator with instant results. I am prepared to deal with whatever I need to to use this fine machine that produces some amazing things for me that I never would have been able to otherwise. My question is about print times/speeds. Some of the larger objects I have tried to print recently have started jumping above 10 hours, and I am not comfortable leaving the printer running over night at this time. So as of now I reserve my longer prints for weekend when I can be home all day.
All that being said I just want to make sure I'm not making a noob mistake and having the prints take longer than they should. I am currently attempting to print http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1852766 . I scaled them all up by 1750 and printed a start/select button yesterday. AT that scaling Slic3r gives dimensions of 141.75x55.13x70.00 and that is with a hollow center as shown in the pic. I don't recall what infill I chose(can I find that in the Gcode?) but I doubt I would have gone above 25%, with 3 perimeters, layer height of .2(maybe I can increase this since it's just a shelf and not something I need absolute quality on?). Octoprint originally stated it was a 17 hour print, but that fairly quick dropped to 14 then 10. Actual print took just over 9 hours. Does that seem normal? The select button is the smallest of the pieces I believe, so I can expect the others to take longer I'm sure.
I know there is a formula type thing for maximum print speed based on how fast the printer can effectively push out the volume of material needed. Still don't fully understand it, but I would I'm sure if I really took the time to. I set my speeds in Slic3r at 40, 20, 30, 60, 40, 20, 50, 20 and 40(actually, I may have changed some of these now that I think of it I believe I changed the perimeters from 40 to 60 and the infill from 40 to 60 as well). I know the printer also has an option to increase print speed, but not sure if that overrides the g code or not.
So I guess here are my questions.
1. Since these parts will be used as decorative shelves, I want them to look decent, but should I increase the layer height at all to increase print speed? I know that will affect the look some, but as the layers are on the outsides of the part rather than the front, I don't expect you will see them much.
2. Am I using the right speeds, does changing them in Slic3r or on the printer actually affect anything, or is the printer firmware taking over and doing what it thinks is best?
3. Anything else?
And finally, as I stated, I love this printer, hence the reason for my impatience, I just want to print more and more stuff, lol. But if time it takes to get a decent print, then thats ok. I just want to make sure I'm not the holdup in the process. Thanks!
I went ahead and resliced one of the A/B buttons using the Fast .35 settings in Slic3r. Will see how that turns out
Octoprint initially says 10.5 hours for the button print at .2 and 7 hours for the same print at .35