Extruder calibration resulting in %15 increase in e-step value?
Hey guys, I decided to recalibrate my MK2 in order to problem-shoot some infill issues I've been having. The first thing I did was calibrate the extruder using the 100mm extrusion method and my calculations showed that I had to increase the default e-steps from 161.3 to 187.82. This seemed a bit off, but I repeated the measurements with the old and new values several times and I'm extruding exactly 100mm with the new value. On some level, this made sense, since I was running a + extrusion multiplier to get good prints. I triple checked all my screws and everything is tight, and the extruder is not slipping or missing steps.
Next, using Simplify3D, I printed a 1 perimeter box in vase mode and measured the wall thickness. The extrusion width in the slicer was set at 0.48, but my walls measured 0.59. I made sure I entered the filament thickness correctly before slicing, so that wasn't part of the equation. Readjusting my extruder multiplier to 0.81 gave me perfect 0.48 thick walls, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around these results. I feel like something is not right here. Anyone care to comment and either put my mind at ease or point out were my problems could be?
I've only had the MK2 for 4 months and it's my first 3D printer. I'm still heavily in learning mode.
Thanks!
Re: Extruder calibration resulting in %15 increase in e-step value?
... The extrusion width in the slicer was set at 0.48, but my walls measured 0.59. ...
a thicker measurement makes sense for me, because there will always be a tiny clearance in positioning the printbed and the extruder.... which leads to the fact, that there will always be a small "misalignment" between the printed layers that you stack on top of each other.
so if you measure a thin printed wall, you'll measure the perimeter thickness plus the max. clearance in that area.
dem inscheniör is' nix zu schwör...
Re: Extruder calibration resulting in %15 increase in e-step value?
That seems reasonable, is there a proper way to measure my extrusion width? I printed a 20x20mm cube after my e-step calibration and left the extrusion multiplier at 1.0x. the print looked really good, but measured 20.20mm across the x and y axis. it also measured 20.36mm in the z, but I understand that calibrating z height is a different animal all together.
Do these measurements seem within the tolerance of the printer, or can i tighten it somehow?
Thank you for trying to help me understand this stuff better.
Re: Extruder calibration resulting in %15 increase in e-step value?
That seems reasonable, is there a proper way to measure my extrusion width? I printed a 20x20mm cube after my e-step calibration and left the extrusion multiplier at 1.0x. the print looked really good, but measured 20.20mm across the x and y axis. it also measured 20.36mm in the z, but I understand that calibrating z height is a different animal all together.
Do these measurements seem within the tolerance of the printer, or can i tighten it somehow?
Thank you for trying to help me understand this stuff better.
i think to measure the extrusion width exactly, you'll need some kind of microscope.
as far as i can see, your values are quite decent. but i didn't test my printer(s) in that way until now.
it would be good to know if the +0.2mm in x/y direction and the +.36mm in z direction are a constand "add on" or a relative percentage.
so it would be a good idea to print two 10 x 200mm cubes now, one located in x and one in y direction.
the z-height should be determined by the accuracy of the first layer thickness and the clearance of the trapezoid nuts.
by the way: ...I've only had the MK2 for 4 months and it's my first 3D printer. I'm still heavily in learning mode...
similar to me. only difference is that i got my printer a month earlier (in december).
dem inscheniör is' nix zu schwör...
Re: Extruder calibration resulting in %15 increase in e-step value?
I'll print the boxes tonight and report back. Again, thanks for the help.
On a side note, I'm an engineer in aviation. Tolerances tend to drive me crazy in my day-to-day job, so I'm trying to develop a sanity check with all this testing.
Re: Extruder calibration resulting in %15 increase in e-step value?
...On a side note, I'm an engineer in aviation...
me in telecommunications.
...Tolerances tend to drive me crazy in my day-to-day job, so I'm trying to develop a sanity check with all this testing.
yeah, but you'll probably know in business the following counts for us engineers: as precise as nescessary, as coarse as possible.
dem inscheniör is' nix zu schwör...
Re: Extruder calibration resulting in %15 increase in e-step value?
Steven.a, curious what the results were of your test prints of the larger boxes.
I'm working through a very similar issue with my Prusa i3 "MK1" that I've had for little over a year.
My journey is laid out here: https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/69pawp/seeking_guidance_on_improving_details_in_3d_prints/
I used the same process for calibrating E-Steps and after that did a single wall cube that showed a 0.66 wall width. When I tweaked the multiplier accordingly I had some severe under extruding again.
Setting multiplier back to 1.0 and extrusion width to "auto" got rid of the under extrusion, but now I've got some over extrusion issues. A single wall cube again shows about a 0.65 wall thickness. Trying to figure out where to go next. I'd like to use a calculation to get to a new multiplier, but not sure what that would be. so, At this point I'm thinking I could just incrementally drop the multiplier and test.
I've been using Slic3r and S3D to try to remove that as a variable.