Quote Originally Posted by adamfilip View Post
Ok well I have been tweaking and upgrading my Makerfarm i3v 12" for almost 2 years..

[...]

what am i missing exactly?
I've been tweaking my Makerfarm printers for a while, and I'm getting great results. I have several coworkers, also with MakerFarm printers, who are not at all happy. I don't really think there's a fundamental problem with the printers, but there are lots of details that matter. Here are a few tips:


  • Put your printer on a flat surface. I'm using Travertine tiles.
  • Get real E3Dv6 hot ends. They really do make a difference.
  • Spend the $150 and buy Simplify3D. (You already did.)
  • Do everything you can to keep stray air off the bed. If you're using the standard MakerFarm X axis parts, the hot end fan blows right on the bed. Switch to a different extruder that vents out the top or tape foil, under the X carriage to redirect all spill air upwards. If you can feel air from the fans on the back of your hand held under the carriage, it will affect the print, causing warping. Even spill off the blade tips of the fan intakes will affect the print.
  • Make sure the bottom ends of your Z screw rods are flat. Flatten them with a file, and then drop a 4mm steel BB in each coupler to give the rods a solid single-point bearing on the end of the motor shafts. This eliminates a very common problem with these printers that causes odd Z-banding.
  • Use auto bed leveling and do everything you can to eliminate bowing in the glass. You can get Marlin to output a topology matrix after bed leveling, so you can see how much warping you have. Shim the corners to correct.
  • Use the first layer height in Simplify3D to adjust bed adhesion.
  • Use Garnier Fructis Extreme Hold #5 hairspray on glass for ABS. There are other solutions, but if you get the airflow off the bed, this works great.
  • Try underfilling your parts slightly (turn down the extrusion or e-steps). I find that slightly underfilled parts, while they have a little bit of open mesh you can see under magnification, look better and fit together better. A lot of fit problems are caused by extra filament squishing out.
  • Use a geared or belted extruder. A 4:1 belt drive extruder (cough, Itty Bitty, cough) has something like 8X the resolution of a direct drive one, both because of the drive reduction and the smaller diameter bolt.
  • Make sure your drive bolt is sharp and clean. When I started milling my own bolts, I was shocked at the print improvement. I didn't think it would matter.
  • Use 1.75mm filament. This also significantly increases the volumetric resolution of the extruder.
  • Temperatures are everything. I'm running 255C with ESun 1.75mm ABS.


All of this advice is good (probably), but without seeing the results you're getting, it's hard to guess what your problems might be.

Can you upload photos showing the issues?