1 month anniversary  

Re: 1 month anniversary

So, I have had my machine for a month and after reading all of the issues everyone is having I wanted to post a few prints and see if you all can add any tweaks. I am very happy and have not had any of the posted issues. All of the prints shown are done with the same settings in the prusa control 9.4. All materail is PLA. Gray is from Prusa. White and black are from Hatchbox. Layer height is .15 and 20% infill. The black parts printed the best. The pictures shows the bottom and the top of the part. The white unicorn printed pretty good and the skull was something I wanted to try. It turned out good. I also printed some bamboo infused PLA with good results. Just looking for some feedback.

Your inconsistent vertical layers would be improved by increasing the nozzle temp a little... Just throwing that out there... 5, maybe 10c.

Some questions for the experts.

Yes?

Do you guys think color effects print quality

Yes. If you want to push the printer well past it's limits, you will need to do many checks not just for every color, but every SPOOL.

and does it effect printer settings?

I am printing Flurosent Green ZYLtech right now. 10c cooler than I normally print ZYLtech at. So yes. (massive stringing with this one at the "normal" temps)

I know that melt indexes change with adding color and different resin suppliers have show different barrel temps in injection molding.

Yeah, even the day of the week, the age of the filament, color, brand, weather... Yeah I hate filament. I generally swap spools freely, but whenever I see a problem that bothers me, I do a full suite of tests. (extrusion multiplier, and retraction test) Generally I can nail the temp without needing a test anymore.

You guys are tweaking settings depending on suppliers. Is the materials that sensitive?

I tweak every day. Even if the spool is identical, made with the exact same plastics, how long has it been out of the bag? Is it warmer today in the room? Is the printer just pissing you off?

I have not dug into the fine tune setting yet but if I can get more out of the printer I would like to.

Try to learn how to do it. If you can wrap your mind around all the settings, and get the "cause and reaction" process right, you can get prints that are fantastic. (there are a few software issues with the printer still, but hopefully they will be worked out)

Re: 1 month anniversary

Hi Brian,

Have you seen any quality change in your print since you bought it ?
I have my MK3 for 1 month as well. I'm interested to know how you feel about your print from 1 month ago.

Your inconsistent vertical layers would be improved by increasing the nozzle temp a little... Just throwing that out there... 5, maybe 10c.

I have the same issue. I print at 210°C with PLA, I thought I had to lower my temperature to have a better surface. Isn't to much to print at 215-220°C for PLA ? Anyway, I gonna try when I'm back home ^^,

Re: 1 month anniversary

Hi Brian,

Have you seen any quality change in your print since you bought it ?
I have my MK3 for 1 month as well. I'm interested to know how you feel about your print from 1 month ago.

Your inconsistent vertical layers would be improved by increasing the nozzle temp a little... Just throwing that out there... 5, maybe 10c.

I have the same issue. I print at 210°C with PLA, I thought I had to lower my temperature to have a better surface. Isn't to much to print at 215-220°C for PLA ? Anyway, I gonna try when I'm back home ^^,

Depends on the pla. Prusa silver has massive extrusion issues below 215. (For me)
I do best at 220-225. Lol.
I have a fluorescent that hates it above 210.
If you get LOTS of hair like singing, drop the temp. Until then, you can go higher. (And the stringing isn't as far as you can go, just where it starts up give you more cleanup work.

Re: 1 month anniversary

Hi Brian,

Have you seen any quality change in your print since you bought it ?
I have my MK3 for 1 month as well. I'm interested to know how you feel about your print from 1 month ago.

My prints are getting better. I'm making small adjustments and trying black and white pla on the same prints and comparing them. All the information on the forum helps tremendously. Too many adjustments at one time and you have no way of knowing what adjustments are improving and what is hurting. I'm taking this slow. I have ordered ABS and will start trying it next. Starting to keep a spreadsheet of brand, color, date package was opened, and setting that work good for me. Maybe overkill but I want to see if there is any consistency. My fear is that the resin from the suppliers is not consistent. Not sure about PLA but there are hundreds of resins of ABS that are extrudable. My next project in this area is a dryer for ABS, Nylon and PC. I'm pretty sure we can dry a spool of material in less than 45 minutes and not melt the spool holder. Stay Tuned....