Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]  

Re: Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]

You can find comparison Marvins printed on a variety of printer types here.

Re: Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]

Thanks but actually I dont want to compare with other printers, I want compare with other Prusa MK3 prints. Couldnt find even one on this page made by a MK3.,

Re: Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]

Thanks but actually I dont want to compare with other printers, I want compare with other Prusa MK3 prints. Couldnt find even one on this page made by a MK3.,
Ah, OK. Here's are a couple I spit out using my bog-standard (what Prusa calls "Fast") profile:

The left is at 0.20mm layer height, the right at 0.08mm layer height.

The immediate thing that stands out is that I'm not a qualified photographer. I've got some stringing going on that suggests I'm printing a bit hot. They key evaluation points on Marvin are the sharpness of the peak on his helmet (I think it looks good), sharpness of the eyes (good crispness, but some cruft) and the underhang between his lets (pretty good though he's had an accident at 0.08mm apparently). Surface finish is not great, but these are my "speed over beauty" settings.

Edit: I knocked out a few more examples. These are all left-to-right 0.15mm, 0.08mm, 0.05mm layer heights:

The 0.05mm example is printed at Prusa's slower speeds for 0.05mm. I'll try those same speeds with a higher layer height to see if it helps reduce the variation between layers.

Yours looks like perhaps cooling was off? It's always hard to judge when you zoom things up 400%, but the ring on top and upper eyes look a little droopy.

Re: Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]

Thanks for the pics. Cooling was on 100%. I think what me is concerning most is the inconsistent extrucion. I am since two days only marvinbs with any kind of settings and hardware adjustments just to compare one with each other and see which settings gets what kind of improvement. Maybe at the end I cann combine them and get a better results. In the meanwhile I am building my own lil clone armee.

Re: Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]

I've done a few more at varying speed/acceleration & layer height settings, shown with no cleanup:

Left to right: 0.15mm layers @ Slic3r default 0.15mm speeds 210C/60C, 0.15mm layers @ Slic3r 0.05mm speeds 195C/55C, 0.04mm layers @ Slic3r 0.05mm speeds 195C/55C

The thing that frustrates me most is how difficult it is to take photos that look like the real thing. Holding them up and inspecting visually, the 0.15mm layer center model is noticeably smoother than the one printed faster to its left, but the pictures make them look almost the same. The 0.04mm layer right model is almost satiny, but appears very rough in the photo. There are limits to what an unskilled photographer can capture, especially at 400% zoom.

I think we're approaching current limits with FDM. SLS printing is already there and increasingly affordable if your main criteria is smooth finish. I've read of people boasting superior results with various FDM printers, but have yet to see really good side-by-side comparisons under identical conditions... made by a skilled photographer.

Do you have an example result you are targeting, or are you just trying to see how smooth you can get them?

Re: Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]

Im just targeting the most smooth finish I can get to start off printing my some minis. Got my first printer 2 weeks ago and just trying to tweak the last out of it and see which adjustments can improve or decrease a prints. Also to find a affordable print time/setting in aspect of quality. For example i guess when printing minis, slower print speed and a higher layer height gives me a better result than printing in normal speed with a smaller layer height if the overall printing time is the same. I dont want to print a 5cm miniture always with 0.25 nozzle, 0.05mm layer height and 50% speed. I think the time for printing is not worth the quality anymore than faster settings. Just trying to get a affordable quality/print time.

Re: Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]

Hello Pascal,

Welcome to FDM printing. Yes, this is a quality you can expect from a direct drive FDM printer.
You can either haunt this white rabbit "Prusa MK3 extrusion issue" or use the machine where it has the main strength.

If you plan to print only small/tiny objects and require high detail, I would recommend to get an SLA printer. You will not be happy with a FDM printer. I know there are people who managed to get some awesome small prints out of their machines. But this require a lot of hardware and software knowledge, tinkering and a little bit of luck. Nobody is mentioning that and only showing the end result. It's a same wording which I hate in the most YouTube reviews: "Once it's dialed in ....". If I hear that, I know exactly a lot of time and effort was put in there. Otherwise they would mention and outline exactly what and how it was "dialed in".

My advise is always: Don't waste your time on trying to get "The best print ever". There are and will be always limitations. At the end it's a tool which will change in quality over time anyway. There are many mechanical parts which change their characteristics in their live time span. And every spool of plastic has always more or less different characteristics.

Re: Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]

Pascal,

Did you try the Smooth Variable Layer Height feature in Slic3r PE?

Re: Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]

Here is my Marvin collection.

All 3 were printed with a stock Prusa i3 MK3 with a sock fitted on the heater block. From left to right they are printed with Translucent Green Rigid Ink PETG, Orange Extrudr PETG and Blue Sunlu PLA+. In all three case they were printed with a 0.4mm nozzle (0.45mm line width), 0.1mm variable layer height. The Rigid Ink one is the newest and is as good as I could get it. The Extruder one could do with dropping the print temperature slightly and a small increase in fan. The Sunlu PLA+ could do with a slight drop in print temperature. But overall unless a lot of effort is spent in fine tuning this is as good as you will achieve with the stock printer with a 0.4mm nozzle fitted.

Regards,
Martin

Re: Thats all I can expect in quality? [Marvin PLA]

It's been 15+ years since I last played WarHammer Fantasy Battles with my sons, but I decided to give printing a 28mm figure a go:

This was printing PLA at 0.02mm layer height with a 0.30mm nozzle. I think it looks as good as most of the cast metal figures I played with back in the day, and with a bit of cleanup and paint, would be quite passable to play with. The thing is, printing at this level of detail is not fast. He took roughly 5 1/2 hours. No technology available today will be "fast". Considering you can pretty much get a print started and leave it to finish without intervention, it's not hard to build up a figure collection. I would easily spend that amount of time preparing and painting miniatures in the past.