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Top Layer not so great  

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MasterHead
(@masterhead)
Trusted Member
Top Layer not so great

Hi, I'm printing some inserts in order to have the board game Gloomhaven well organized including boxes for the monsters ( https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2797796 ), right now i'm printing LidBotton and LidTop6, thing is that prints are pretty good and consistent but LidTop6 top layer is not that great, not really smooth around numbers, and i have no idea what might be happening.

Top Layer:

Bottom Layer:

Thanks! 

Posted : 05/06/2019 1:24 pm
timo.m
(@timo-m)
Estimable Member
RE: Top Layer not so great

From the look of your bottom layer you seem to either be to close to the bed with your nozzle or you could be overextruding slightly.

With rather thin parts (is ther any infill or are they just solid bottom and top layers) being to close to the bed might show on top surfaces slightly.

Overextrusion would also explain the slight imperfections on the top layer.

 

Alltogether it doesn't look too bad though.

 

Can you tell us something about your setting? Temps, retraction, z-hop would come to mind.

 

Posted : 05/06/2019 3:03 pm
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(@)
Illustrious Member
RE: Top Layer not so great

Maybe bleed through as Timo suggested;  but I'm inclined to say slight over-extrusion ... and another possibility is if the part is lifting some areas and be "squished" making it look like over-extrusion, but it's really layer compression.

 

Easy to test by reducing flow from 95% to 85% and observe the difference.  If it still looks "fat" then lift is more likely.

 

ps: you could also measure the raw filament diameter... if greater than 1.75 mm ... you have a clue.

This post was modified 6 years ago by --
Posted : 05/06/2019 8:30 pm
MasterHead
(@masterhead)
Trusted Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Top Layer not so great

Yesterday i recalibrate the z-axis moving it away a little (-1240 to -1180 if i recall correctly) and the first layer came somehow cleaner, it does not show those little imperfections and the top layer feels better also, although is still not perfect, doesn't seem to have much margin left to play with the distance so i'll try to play with the flow tonight 

I'm using the default config for 0.2mm speed changing the filament from prusament to BQ

0.2mm speed:

  • Retraction: 
  • Perimeters: 2
  • Speed First Layer: 20mm/s
  • Speed Perimeters: 60mm/s
  • Speed Small Perimeters: 25mm/s
  • Speed Infill: 200mm/s
  • Speed Solid Infill: 200mm/s
  • Speed Top Solid Infill: 50mm/s
  • Travel: 180mm/s

Temps, retraction, z-hop would come to mind.

Printer config (default, unmodified)

  • Retraction Speed: 35mm/s
  • Retraction Left: 0.8mm
  • Lift Z: 0.6mm
  • Nozzle: 0.4mm

BQ - Based on Prusament PLA changing temperature: 

  • Extruder: 200º
  • Bed: 60º
  • Diameter: 1.75mm
  • Extruder Multiplier: 1 --> i'll try with 0.9 or 0.95

Regarding the filament i'm reading some reviews and doesn't seem to be neither bad o good filament, it works fine with some diameter variations so it might actually come from the flow, i'll definitely give it a try tonight and see, i have a feeling that both answers are the right one, moving the z a little bit plus reducing a little the flow... tonight i'll know for sure 🙂

Thanks again! 

Posted : 06/06/2019 8:28 am
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(@)
Illustrious Member
RE: Top Layer not so great

Layer 1 should ideally be a smooth sheet of plastic, with each trace of extrusion welded to the adjacent.  No rough spots where plastic has extruded vertically, and no significant gaps anywhere (there will always be a few voids where the slicer doesn't get the infill perfect). 

Here's a test piece that is pretty fair ... probably not perfect, but usable.

This post was modified 6 years ago by --
Posted : 06/06/2019 9:25 pm
MasterHead
(@masterhead)
Trusted Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Top Layer not so great

I haven't been able to test the flow thing yesterday, so i'll try today

Also i'll prepare a 1 layer test in order to check it's coming out that way, i actually think it does but better check and be rigth than be sure and fail 😀 

Posted : 07/06/2019 8:39 am
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