I am struggling with my printer settings
Hey everyone,
I just got my printer last Weekend and so far it is amazing. I started out with some demo files, that were available on the SD card and everything went smooth, as far as I can tell. A few prints later I tried some designs from Thingiverse, to fully test the capabilities, again everything went smooth.
Fast forward to yesterday, I started designing and printing some basic shapes. So I got to this half sphere. And this is where the problems start.
So the first image shows the outside of the sphere. Could someone explain me, why there is this weird extra line on the left and right side. I am wondering, what setting is responsible to let them appear and vanish so suddenly? Is it possible that this relates to the Seam position setting?
Furthermore it seems to get worse the closer it gets to the end. I already reduced the print speed. But is there anything I can change in order to get a smooth sphere, without the use of support material? Or is this simply not possible? Is there some magic way to fix this? 🙂
And an image of the inside of the sphere.
Thanks in advance,
Viki
Re: I am struggling with my printer settings
Left and right lines are the "seam" The extruder has to start and stop somewhere. And this point is the seam. You can set it to be linear or random.
You are also having some extrusion problems: the globs here and there might mean your Bondtech gears aren't moving the filament well. Too little tension, or too much tension; both cause problems. Improper tension can also cause seams to have gaps and unsightly.
As for the top of the print getting uglier, that is all about print layer resolution. As you near the top of the dome, the angle increases until it is parallel with the bed. If you printed the sphere in one layer, you'd have a square lump. Three layers a pyramid. Finer layers increase the number of 'steps' along the way. Spheres are the worst case because they expose this limitation of FDM. If you want a smooth sphere, print as many layers as possible.
As for bridging: there is a Slic3r setting that will help the inside lower surface- detect bridging. It slows down the print speed to allow more time for cooling when there is nothing under that spot. Also, there are filament specific characteristics that will affect the 'underside' quality.