Your printing success percentage??

Hello.

I have a 6 year old Ultimaker2 and use Cura for a slicer. Over the years I have printed many things. My prints turn out 100% correct about 5% of the time and totally fail about 10% of the time. They are often satisfactory and usable, but often have partially missing lines from poor extrusion. There are many settings in Cura I do not fully understand, especially since there are frequent updates which add or remove features. All that being said, I give my understanding of how how use my printer and slicer 90%.

I am curious to learn about the success rate people have with their printers.

What I am considering a 100% successful print is one with no visible under extruded lines or strange blobs on any side, including the bottom. If it needs to be strong, then it is strong. Support structure marks are OK if they can be removed with almost no trace. The little strings that form with a hop from one location to another are OK.

Thanks

At what speed do you normally print using Cura Speed percentage or millimeters per second^3.
Would also help to answer your question if we knew what filament you print with and what temperatures you are printing...


I normally print past the max speed Cura says My Hictop 3DP11/12 printer giving this error message.

Quote:

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You are trying to print more than 8.0mm ^3 of filament per second. This might cause filament slipping. ( you are printing 9.6mm^3 per second).

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Not sure what quality percentage is, though every-time I post a photo an ask how to improve my prints.
The normal response is they wish they could get prints that good.

Thanks for the response, Clif. I thought there would be more interest in this topic. Oh well. . .

I most use either Ultimaker filament or faberdashery. Lately, faberdashery has been the winner.

My nozzle is .4mm X .2mm height X 30mm speed = 2.4mm3 per second. The outer wall is set to 15mm = 1.2mm3 per sec. I don't mind a slow speed as far as the results are good.

I have recently been printing PLA at 250C with good results, approaching 100% correct, especially on the outer wall.

As far as the quality percentage, I'm just looking for spitball answers. Nothing too scientific.

I believe this subject has ran its course many times over, thereby loosing interest for many 3D Printer users.
I am here to see if we can find out why your Ultimaker is not printing better models at a much faster rate.

Take this " Original Prusa Benchy Boat " On my 3D Printer I can print it in 42 minutes

PLA : Maker Cheapest 10-15 dollars a 2.2 pound roll
Print Speed in Cura 86%
Layer Height .28
Hotend 202C
Bed 50C
with Not Supports 30% infill

Photo Below

Attachment 14075

Now this is no where near perfect. But this is A-ok as they are Printed for Halloween handouts.

Now this Photo Is the middle carriage for the MPCNC - here

Attachment 14077

This was 3D Printed in ABS at 236C Hot-end 96C Bed with all other settings remaining the same.
For my first large Prints with many pieces of 3D Printed parts that have to all fit together and work, this worked perfect.

My printer was one of the first UM2's made. I had to wait about 6 months for it to arrive. There were a lot of issues at that time which I assume have been corrected for the latest models. My guess is you can get a printer today for a fraction of what I paid that will outperform the one I have. I will keep using mine until it explodes. Maybe by that time I can get a laser/metal one affordably.

You are correct, Me Too.

Though the more information you give us about your 3D Printer and setup the easier it will be for someone to help.

My prints are 100% successful as far as printing goes.. the model may need to be changed and re-fabricated but the fabrication process does not normally fail due to printer or slicer issues.

Post the settings you are using for Cura, if these settings are off it can ruin your entire model.

Likewise I'd say 99% success rate.
The odd 1 % is usually an indication that the printbed needs a quick wipe with dimafix - that being simpler and quicker than farting around with bed levelling :-)
Given that the dimafix I'm using was a sample I got 3 years ago at tct and that at least 50% is still left - tells you how good it is.

I suspect my standards are quite different to yours.

I generally don't give a crap about tiny artifacts. I print faster and at larger layer heights than most people round here.

I'm NOT trying to duplicate an injection moulded thing.
I'm generally making something 100% unique in the world. It workling is far more important than it being stupidly smooth.
I'm extruding cylindrical cross sction plastic and placing it on another cylinder.
It CAN'T ever be perfectly smooth.

That's why they invented sandpaper and mini files :-)

If you are using z-hop during retractions, then that is bad idea and totally unnecessary. Particularly with a printer where the entire print plate moves up and down.
Hell I wouldn't even use it on my deltas.

I also don't like cura, so no help there :-)

I find that most people's expectations of what an fdm 3d printer can do is generally wrong and unrealistic.

Also, an awful lot depends on the filament and temperature settings.
Some brands and types pf filament will never give clean retractions.
Try different ones till you find something that works for you.