Help with Results

After spending about 5 hours of intense calibrating and adjusting, including installing Tesserac's bed levelers (Thanks man!) and flipping the z stop switch (which Robo guys said didn't make any difference, but I switched it anyway) I've made 2 excellent prints and one that is in the attached photo. It is an apple. I was surprised to see the bottom 1/2 was awful but the top half was beautiful, except for the leaves. Based on the issues with z height, I expected it to be the other way around.
Anyone have an opinion on why and what's the problem with the leave?
Also, I get a lot of the black spots that on the prints. On the apple they look like worm holes which could be acceptable, but on other things, they are distracting.
Thanks.

 

The black spots look like old filament that was on the hot-end and later oozed onto your print.


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Thanks for replying. I get the feeling that I've been black-listed because of my previous posts showing my frustration with the printer. I used to get alot of replies from Tesseract and others, but I haven't heard a peep from them in awhile. I don't know if I offended them. Guess I shouldn't question their wisdom!

The spots are surely imperfections, not just coloring. Before each print, I make sure I scrape off the hot-end and get a single line of filament to extrude. I wondered if they were burns or imperfections in the filament itself.

 

I used to get lots of issues like this which I've determined was old filament that was on the hot-end that eventually just oozed onto the print. Since going to a new hot-end (the E3D) which had none of the old filament on it I had no problems until recently I got a glob of filament onto it which later fell onto a print I was working on.

The place where I'd get old filament stuck was between the hot-end and the kapton tape. It was really bad. I made sure that on the E3D, when I taped it up, I did a really good job of it.

 

I sometimes get little brown blobs of burnt filament on my prints, too. Somehow, the flat part of the hot end (next to the nozzle) seems to accumulate plastic, which then gets burnt and drips onto the print. I'm not sure what to do about it, though I may try trimming the kapton tape with a razor blade.
EDIT: I guess the Kapton tape is the problem. Thanks Melody Bliss!

 

I was thinking maybe the hot end was touching the print at times and burning it, but I imagine the print would be all messed up.
Melody, what is your opinion of the E3D print head? Do you have to be a rocket scientist to install it? Any thoughts on the problem with the rest of the apple print?

 

I love my E3D hot-end. It's pretty awesome. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to install it (and I should know -- I once was one). The instructions on E3D's website are very straightforward. Just keep in mind the thermistor is TINY and can easily be lost. If you can salvage the one on your current hot-end that'll save you some frustration. If you do have to use a replacement thermistor (aka the one that's included), save yourself some headache and put tape (kapton preferably as it is heat resistant) on the wires of the thermistor so if you drop it you can find it. Use small sections of kapton! For the E3D I find the 1/2" to be a near perfect size.

Biggest frustration wasn't with the E3D but with the screws on the Robo 3D. I kept on stripping the screws. Save more frustration by having extra M3 x 25mm screws that are socket cap headed instead of phillips. The phillips just kept on stripping If you do get the socket cap headed ones (I ordered from McMaster-Carr -- specifically these http://www.mcmaster.com/#socket-head-cap-screws/=q51f8w) make sure you get a 2.5mm socket bit for an electric screwdriver. Using a 1/8" imperial socket bit WILL work BUT you are still very likely to strip the head as it is close but not quite perfect while a 2.5mm bit will be perfect.

The reason I stress this is that when you screw in the bolts to hold the E3D, the way it works is the screw's thread bite and cut into the J-head of the E3D. This is how it keeps the head from moving. You want to make sure the E3D is level as you screw these in. You'll see what I mean when you remove the hold hot-end. You'll see where the plastic has been cut into by the old screws.

Also, if you do go with an E3D the stock fan and fan mount WILL NOT FIT! You can reuse the stock fan but the mount has to go. There's not enough room for it and the E3D. Make sure you print a new fan mount BEFORE you do the E3D install. There are several fan bracket replacements. Go with the one you like best.

Here's a fan bracket that's just like the stock one but is sized for the E3D:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:186027

Here's one that Cambo3D made that goes in front of the X carriage:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:124032

Here's Tesseract's fan mount. It also goes in front of the X carriage but attaches to the side of the carriage:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:166452

 

One of the things I like about the E3D is the heater block (the big flat section before the nozzle) is far from the nozzle itself since it's a separate piece. I believe that with the original hot-end, because I was still learning and had LOTS of mistakes, filament just built up on the heater block. It's all part of the learning process.

 

Ah, but you think like a rocket scientist, therefore you look at life differently
Thanks for the tips. I think I may give it a go.

 

Still looking for answers about the apple . Since the bottom prints outward, do you think it needs support?

 

no support is needed for a print like that but i would assume you might be going abit fast. try a speed for perimeters of around 25 and what temp are you printing at? i had this issue when i was printing a owl, i changed the speed and it was improved alot

 

Thanks for your help Soup. Lowered the speed to 25% as suggested and I stopped it after about 20 layers as it showed no change. Then added raising the temperature 5 degrees to 200/195. Repetier is set for 2 perimeters. The first 20 layers or so the 1st perimeter went at a slower speed, but the second whips around very fast, probably at 100% This 2nd perimeter seemed to be doing the damage. But then after about 15 minutes, the second perimeter suddenly slowed down to very slow, which I'm guessing is the 25% I'm looking for. It was from here on that the print looked real good. When it finished, the damage was on just one side of the apple. Except for the first 5 or so layers, the other side looked as good as the rest. Also for the leaves on top, One side looks good, the other crappy. Any idea why the speed of the 2nd perimeter wasn't 25% at the beginning?
And one more question-how do people get their images as thumbnails that we click on to see the bigger picture?

 

Watch the print to make sure one side is not going faster than the other or check to see if one side is better becuase the fan is blowing on it. Try lower temps

The print should not be speeding up like that at the beginning so I would look into that. I had the issue so I uninstalled the software and re-installed it.

(When uploading the pictures press the full size button)