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Blobs/Zits with ASA

Discussion in 'Printing Filament' started by Jholman05, Jun 19, 2018.

  1. Jholman05

    Jholman05 New Member

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    I made this post on a 3d printing facebook page but I didn't get any comments, I figured people here with the same printer may have some good insight into my problem Here is what I posted, copy and pasted.

    Day 1
    Looking for a little help. Im printing black (3dxtech) ASA at 245* extruder and 100* bed temps in an enclosure. Printer is a Robo R1+ using mattercontrol software and matterslice.

    I finally managed to get the print to stick to the bed and now I'm trying to get the finish more consistent. The one side gets a lot of bubbles/blobs/zits in it whereas the front and other side are smooth. I can comment on additional settings if need be. I did a print with a test piece with a spiral vase setting applied which doesn't allow the extruder to cross over itself and it printed beautifully, except it didn't have any infill and was extremely weak. The attached pictures sitting on the steel table top are from this print.

    Day 2
    I think I've found out that the blobbing is caused by where the extruder starts and stops. I've read that this can be fixed by defining the start and stop points at each layer, my question is how can I do this in mattercontrol?

    Day 3
    I've changed some setting in mattercontrol, one of the bigger improvements was switching to printing the perimeters first. Its better but still showing the bumps on the one side. I may try switching from matterslice to curaslice or slic3r in matter control to see if it gets any better. Hoping someone sees this and can give a little insight. The attached pictures sitting on the vice are from this print. Notice the "front" and "right sides look great, but the "left" side is still full of blobs.

    Day 4
    I switched the slice engine to cura slice and it was much worse. I may try slic3r tonight.
     
  2. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    You are ensuring your cooling fan is OFF correct? You dont want cooling with ASA. I run alot of fillementum ASA but I run around 260C on the hotend, no cooling fan, a bit slower than PLA printing speeds (say 40mm/s)
     
  3. Jholman05

    Jholman05 New Member

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    90% sure the fan is off. I'll have to wait until I'm home to check. I can try a bit hotter bumping it up from 235c to 245c seemed to have better layer adhesion. I think it's printing at 50mm/s, I'll also try slowing it down. I just find it odd that it's printing fine on the two sides and not the other. I even rotated it 90* on the print bed and it still prints bumpy on one side. Perhaps rotating it 45* may help out. Good to know about the fillementum ASA seems to be a bit cheaper shipped than 3dxtech.
     
  4. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    If its only on one side its a temperature fluctuation of some sorts (first guess). I'd 100% up the temp, I've never ran 3dxtec stuff so I cant be of very much help other than what I found with the ASA I have used and it loves it hot. @Printed Solid sells some very nice push plastics ASA I've been experimenting with for a potential client. Might want to check it out
     
  5. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    I agree with @Geof . Probably a bit hotter and you're fine. Doesn't look like you have fan running. There would be layer splits.

    Do you have an unusual setting for coast or retraction set? That is worth checking if a bit hotter doesn't fix it.
     
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  6. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    mark tomlinson likes this.
  7. Jholman05

    Jholman05 New Member

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    Thanks Guys I'll crank up the heat and see what she does tonight!
     
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  8. Jholman05

    Jholman05 New Member

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    Thanks a lot guys, such a simple change has made much better results!
     

    Attached Files:

  9. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    picture??? :D Glad to hear its helping. I like to run temperature towers for all new materials. Might be worth looking into for you. Helps to find the best results for common stuff like temp and minimum cooling times per layer
     
  10. Jholman05

    Jholman05 New Member

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    Geof, I meant to upload the pictures but had to get on the computer to send them, check my last post now. Let me know what you think and I'll look further into the temperature tower. I'm still kind of new to this but soak up info like a sponge.
     
  11. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    No problem! it is looking much better. Almost looks like you may want to increase temp a bit more but hard telling, sometimes pictures lie lol. No worries on being new, we all were and we all still learn :D.

    Temperature tower is something like this :
    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2493504

    I create my own with a 20x20x10mm cube (say 5 of them together to make a tower) then in my slicer (at .2 layer height) I change the temperature to match whatever text I have on the 10mm height. So say ASA I start around min temperature they suggest, then up it 5 degrees each 10 mm height ( 50 layers) if the top (hottest) temperature looks best. Its my new bottom temperature and add 5 degrees every 10mm cube until I find the one that looks the best. I indent the text as thats easiest for me to see the temp changes.

    I'm hoping that all makes sense (that top link is not my design, just the first one that popped up on thingiverse :D )
     
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