Robo R2 Print Tests

I am going to run just about every material I have in stock through the R2 and see how they all look.

Up first though is a Cura spliced test on something I have printed hundreds of, so it is a file I know well and oddly one that Cura has never done well on.

Essentium PLA 215 Nozzle, 60 Bed



More images can be found here - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l2lkkr9h4v3kw9c/AAB2w-jXSKqCTSnZyQqYB2qVa?dl=0

(Dark Blue is Essentium PLA, Grey and Red are Matte ProtoPasta, Black is HTPLA V3 ProtoPasta, Light Blue is MakerGeeks PETG - everything other than the Essentium were printed on a FlashForge Dreamer at the same layer heights, speed is within 5mm/s on both machines)


I am seeing something that I would call stepper ringing, not sure if this is Cura or the machine yet. For the material tests I will run some sort of cube or object. Might run one each with Cura and S3D - will post more pictures soon.

Edit: wanted to also point out I am seeing some really minor changes in the layers, in the light it almost looks like the X/Y is shifting(belts), could also be extrusion temp I guess. Or it is Cura!

 

Also check the fine tuning of the Z axis. In the old days people would smash the plastic into the surface but I find with this printer, you don't need to squish the plastic on the bed, just layer it on the bed and the jobs and layers fall in place (This is by trial and error mind you, if you get the Z axis too close to the extruder, the base has a tendency to dislodge from the build plate)

 

I am too far away from the bed actually, I used paper to set the heights and it left me just a touch high but really close so I won't need to adjust it by much.

 

ColorFabb XT would not release from the plate, ended up breaking the print. Had to sit there and pick off the pieces, whatever the plate material is looks horrid now. Went back and covered it with AquaNet for another test run with XT.

Print failed because the spool holder caught the spool unwinding to the side as it tried to feed into the detector block. So I guess after a bit this was enough to tie it up. The extruder chewed halfway through the filament and then stopped, print kept going doing nothing. Detector block I guess does not see if movement has occurred after X amount of time? Or is it just a toggle really to say it has something in the tube.

 

The build plate is supposedly PEI, according to the Kickstarter campaign. PEI is well-known to not work well with flexible filaments because the two fuse together, but I didn't know the same happened with ColorFabb XT. Thanks for sharing!