Poor surface finish after upgrading to Volcano &0.6mm Nozzle  

Print

I will try to print on Monday unless some jumps ahead of me.  I have some ideas but want to confirm them first.  

Thanks!

Thanks! Hopefully it's something simple to fix

It's still PLA

Assuming you're using typical 0.6mm nozzle settings of 0.48mm layer height and 0.72mm extrusion widths, you're using something like 50mm/s for perimeters. First and simplest thing is to slow down and see if anything improves. Dial speed back 50% with the front knob and compare. If that fixes it, slicer settings can be adjusted accordingly.

The Volcano is an older design that is very long, and if not supported well, can wiggle, aggravating consistency at speed. I went with the 3D Solex nozzles on my Mk3 myself.

After some testing on my 2nd printer with a Volcano, I was surprised to find that PLA doesn't like being pushed much faster than 20mm^3/s.

Maybe it's wiggling...?

I was worried about the long length of the volcano as well, so I've also replaced my extruder assembly with the one from this model to better support the volcano, though I'm not sure if it does much in terms of stiffness.

Re:PLA speeds, I've also tried running it at the default prusa 0.3mm 0.6nozzle quality speeds but terminated the print as the surface quality was identical. If I remember right, those are ~10mm3/s, dropping to ~6 for the external perimeter, so more than a 50% reduction over my initial settings.

2¢

Posted by: @darkraver

I was worried about the long length of the volcano as well, so I've also replaced my extruder assembly with the one from this model to better support the volcano, though I'm not sure if it does much in terms of stiffness.

It may be just fine, but it's definitely a new hardware factor to worry about, particularly at higher speeds. You might find that adjusting acceleration and jerk reduce problems as well. My Sidewinder's Volcano can definitely wobble a bit.

Re:PLA speeds, I've also tried running it at the default prusa 0.3mm 0.6nozzle quality speeds but terminated the print as the surface quality was identical. If I remember right, those are ~10mm3/s, dropping to ~6 for the external perimeter, so more than a 50% reduction over my initial settings. 

I suggest trying the test procedure I linked to just to see what results you get with your setup. There are a LOT of variables that tie into tuning MVS. Looking at those walls, I'd definitely crank the speed WAY back to see if it improves. If so, regardless of theory, speed is part of the problem. The biggest surprise to me was, even with the big honkin' Volcano, I still have to print slowly with large nozzles. Mind you, prints complete much faster, but the nozzle certainly doesn't zip around as much as with smaller nozzles.

50% about the same

I dropped the speed 50% at the printer, but it doesn't seem like there's any difference.

there are maximum parameters in firmware, which are compared to the requested speeds, which often results in the printer not achieveing the desired speeds, especially on intricate parts with short paths and or high detail. 
in this case slowing the print speed may simply match the new requested speed, to the maximum achievable speed taking the limits into consideration. and thus result in no significant change of speed!

regards Joan

Followup

Posted by: @cwbullet

I will try to print on Monday unless some jumps ahead of me.  I have some ideas but want to confirm them first.  

Were you able to see what's going on with my setup?

printing

It if printing right now.