Reducing print time to lowest possible.
I am developing a table top game (which also has a free to play digital component) that I am maximizing print time efficiency for in order to use my printers for production of the game.
I have taken the following steps to minimize print time to it's absolute lowest (while preserving acceptable quality)
- Made big game pieces hollow
- Did away with all automatic raft, replacing it with 0.2mm versions only where absolutely needed.
- Used custom support material consisting of easy to remove 1mm rods
- Used 3% infill
- Used 0.4mm layer height (this has stopped working recently)
This was all done within the parameters of Makerware...
Now I am looking into using Slic3r to optimize print time even further.
Is there a slicing profile that will absolutely give me the fastest print time while still having acceptable quality?
I am using a Makerbot Replicator 2.
Thanks
Layer Height & Custom G-Code
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Zhall
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Now to find a way to print <60 layer parts faster... May try to revive my .4 lh approach.
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- As curious aardvark mentioned you will begin to run into layer lamination issues running a 0.4mm nozzle with a 0.4mm layer height. You don't really want to exceed 75% of your nozzle diameter, this gives your flowrate & filament diameter parameters values some control over how much pressure is applied between the layers (its ideal to have a little bit of 'squish' between layers).
- I have also found that certain filaments also affect prints speeds(filament review). I am able to print at about 65-100mm/s with PLA using a good quality filament and tuned configurations. I have a configuration file for each of my filament spools arranged by supplier & color, because different colors can also effect these configuration settings.
- I use the CuraEngine in the Repetier-Host software and found it produced better quality at the higher print speeds than slic3r did. This may be just my inability to fully tame the slic3r software, but my suggestion is to try some other pathing options to see if you can get better results at the higher print speeds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Zhall
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The real issue is the first layer sticking, so I'll see what I can do to slow that layer down in Slic3r, then go bat-s#$! crazy for the rest of them.
- I'm not sure how savvy you are with g-code but if you are in the slightest this is an easy task to accomplish.
- Slice and generate the gcode at the speeds you would like for the first layer.
- Copy the layer 1 code into a text editor
- Slice and generate the gcode at the desired print speeds for the rest of the print.
- Replace the layer 1 code with the code saved in the text editor
* Make sure the feedrate and 'Z-Axis' transitions are copied appropriatly