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Miniature Print Quality

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by 4sfaloth, Mar 17, 2019.

  1. 4sfaloth

    4sfaloth Member

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    Hi all again,

    I have been using my R1+ to print a lot of miniatures, and overall am quite pleased with the results.
    However, I think find there is room for improvement in some prints. It seems that when it gets closer to the top of the print, when it is somewhat thin the print starts coming out with really bad quality. To me it seems like it is not cooling fast enough and thus the plastic is falling a little bit. I have attached two pictures where this can effect can be seen; the black cone shows it quite well I think.

    Do you think my diagnostic is correct? And how can I improve this? I was thinking on increasing the "minimum layer time" to make it print these parts slower but thought I'd ask the community before fiddling with parameters.

    I am using CURA for slicing.

    Thanks in advance for the help!
     

    Attached Files:

  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Cooling. You need a minimum layer time for cooling. Otherwise as the layer gets smaller the printer is trying to put melted plastic onto still molten plastic.

    Increase minimum layer print time (which give it more time to cool) and make sure fans are 100%
     
  3. 4sfaloth

    4sfaloth Member

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    that's what I thought. What do you think would be an appropriate value for an R1+ (printing with PLA)? I currently have it set to 7s, but also the printing speed is limited to 10mm/s on the lower side (so I think for very small prints this may be overriding the 7s)?
     
  4. 4sfaloth

    4sfaloth Member

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    PS: the fans are at 100%
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I have my minimum layer times at 30 seconds regardless of filament.
    7 seconds is not enough time for a puddle of filament to turn solid :)

    You need to experiment to find a number that works for you.
     
  6. 4sfaloth

    4sfaloth Member

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    Alright, I'll try it out!
    But won't the mininum printing speed (set to to 10mm/s) override that? I mean, for a small miniature the printer would have to print REALLY slow (probably slower than 10mm/s) to take more than 30s per layer when near the top of the figurines
     
    #6 4sfaloth, Mar 18, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2019
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    It depends on your slicer.
    With S3D There is a separate section in the speed/cooling tab that allows you to control how much it will reduce the overall printing speed, but many slicers will simply move the nozzle off-print and wait if needed.
     
  8. 4sfaloth

    4sfaloth Member

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    I tried setting the minimum layer time to 30s; it did take slightly longer so I guess it is functional but I did not see any improvement in quality. I have since noticed the table on top of which I have the printer (an IKEA low table) seems to vibrate quite a lot when it is working; I will try moving it to a more stable base and see if it improves
     
  9. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    A stable base is important. you can brace the legs if moving the machine to the floor helps your issue. It would really have to be rockin I'd think to throw off the print quality- but its very possible.

    As far as printing minis- LOTS OF COOLING if PLA. Print multiple of the same at a time if nothing else. When I did FDM printing for minis for people I swapped to a .25 or .15 nozzle. Your prints will take a very long time but will look very good.
     
  10. 4sfaloth

    4sfaloth Member

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    thanks for the input. If moving it to the floor does not improve it, I might try to print 6 of these at the same time just for the sake of it
     
    Geof likes this.
  11. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Good plan! And a cheap test to perform.
     

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