Reality Thread - What printers can Actually do

It is a good time to start this thread as 3 of my 4 rigs are up and running with the 4th soon to be. The purpose of this thread is to find out how our custom printers stack up and compare. To each other and to stock printers.

Done right this thread should be both a good time for the participants and also aid in the fine tuning of our respective robots, their firmware, and slicer settings through constructive discussion.

So join the conversation any and all 3d printer owners. Post up some pictures of your print with some detailed specs about your printer and slicer settings used and share that file so the rest of the group can print the same thing and begin the discussion.

Okay, well I've got 2 'calibration' prints i use.

Both useful to keep and great to give away.
And I will say that a printer needs to be dialled in well to produce both.

So the first is this phone/tablet stand.
It's 2mm thick, has (takes one out of pocket to count) 6 print in place hinges. Fits a normnal wallet and will hold up to a ipad pro (biggest I've tried).
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3334689

I'm pretty sure I've printed one at 100mm/s on the twotrees sapphire pro2. But 75 gives a better result.

My other calibratuion print would be this iris box: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1817180
I have printed these at up to 150mm/s
But I did cheat on my delta :-) and used -0.1 mm for internal compensation.

On the sapphire pro I used 0.85 extrusion ratio.
Useful for items with a lot of close together nested layers.

I also use simplify3d as my default slicer.

Standard pla settings:
200c
65c bed
3 walls, 3 top and bottom layers and 15% triangular infill.

I'm running a custom CoreXY, and a pair of (somewhat modified) Prusas.

Slicer is PrusaSlicer, with Cura as a backup (though becoming less of a backup as I haven't run it for ages and can't be bothered revisiting its profiles)
CoreXY is running Marlin 2.0.8.2. I'm keeping an eye on 2.0.9.x, but at this stage there's no benefit for me.

One thing I am focussed on is standardised profiles. I have a series of print profiles, a series of filament profiles, and a profile for each machine. Each of these is interchangeable, so any filament profile can be combined with any print profile and run using any machine profile (see attached).

One challenge we'll have here is that the CoreXY and one of my Prusas are running hardened 0.6mm nozzles, which will occasionally present some challenges with models designed for a 0.4mm nozzle. Likewise, the 0.4mm machines may often be slower than the 0.6mm machines.

Anyway, one print that I printed ages ago, and need to make again is this:
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/tool...limited-radius

It was originally printed on a Wanhao i3+ in ABS.
I'll print it again on the CoreXY. Haven't decided on the plastic yet, but probably ABS again.
It needs support from the build plate only.

you've kind of missed the point martin.
The idea is to find something that can be printed as a 'benchmark' model. That is - and i cannot state this firmly enough - NOT a sodding, useless waste of space and plastic, bloody benchy :-)

We don't all need or want a router guide - neat though it is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

you've kind of missed the point martin.
The idea is to find something that can be printed as a 'benchmark' model. That is - and i cannot state this firmly enough - NOT a sodding, useless waste of space and plastic, bloody benchy :-)

We don't all need or want a router guide - neat though it is.

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But likewise, we don’t all need or want phone holders and iris boxes. I don’t think we’ll find too many prints that everyone actually wants.

Chip clips may be a good option though.

https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints...print-in-place

Generally useful. Quick to print. Work on both 0.4 and 0.6 nozzles, IIRC.

The Iris box is a test print that has a very small window for success in temp and retraction settings. Generally it brings great joy when you can print it at 1:1 scale and have it work smoothly.

Another option is the lattice cube. I know we already did these but maybe they should be the start to set a defined bar somewhere. And then we will go from there.

So here is a link to the lattice cube: Lattice Cube 3D Printer Torture Test (Overhangs and Dual-Extrusion) by Lazerlord - Thingiverse

I printed it with this rig: GEEETech i3 32bit Rework (3dprintboard.com)

These are the results I got with PETG filament using a 0.4mm nozzle..

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/922/ZtLwtG.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/923/NHerGb.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/923/s2Xwbg.jpg

I do not have further specs on the slicer for this print as it was a while back. But I am not against doing this again. It did not use a lot of filament. And that is the thing with these test prints Martin. We should try to find things that do not use a lot of filament because we understand we will likely toss our refuse when we are done with it. I personally do not mind printing larger things in the name of this thread just because the filaments from ebay are so damn cheap.

You can easily see how this lattice cube tests retraction settings. And printed right it looks cool, too. I can show you these pictures and you and CA can assess them tiny hairs and see if you can get it better. Or try to point out other flaws with the picture I am posting and if possible post it along with an honest suggestion about your ideas on how to resolve the issue you noticed. With tuning first if possible. Remember this is supposed to make us all better printers and make our robots more capable.

Try to print this or the iris box. Play with your settings and get it to print the best you can on your own. Then post up your results with as much detail about the final specs used and lets start discussing how each of us can up our game. Then you should find something with like a 1 layer wall thickness that is tall or something with reaching overhangs or something else to further test and tune our retraction settings with.

And I will print out the link you provided just because you posted it up here and to keep all this on a happy constructive note.

I have done a couple of iris boxes in the past. This one was done on the CoreXY back in April. I can't recall the settings off the top of my head, so I'll reprint it next week. The other was done on my 0.4mm Prusa, but was scaled down. I think it is ~40mm across. I'll grab a photo next week.

We need to see a picture of that iris box closed, please. That is how we know it is functional. It prints out open and the only way to tell if we found the joy is when it closes.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/922/TeIhgY.jpg

Because it is round and a cup there will be no stringing in a place where we would see. Also do you use S3D? and if not what slicer(s) are you using? CA and I both have S3D but i guess we could use Prusaslicer if you like that better. But I would like to get us all on the same slicer for some of these when we get into comparisons. If we get this that far. So far nobody has printed anything for this thread, yet. My weekend is almost here.

PrusaSlicer for me.

Here we go.
~80mm one printed on the Core XY a while back with 0.6mm nozzle.
~40mm printed on one of the Prusas
Benchy for scale.

Ok, Did a reprint of the iris box to get things underway.

Tried to get it under 1 hour for a standard sized iris box (63mm). Ended up completing the print in 59 minutes. I've attached pics showing the print time, underside of the box, and box closed as well as a PrusaSlicer project with the settings.

nice - now we just need speed and temperature settings.

That's more the idea than just pictures of prints.
and please, NO BENCHIES !

There is a special circle of hell reserved for people who print benchies.
It's above the circle reserved for creality engineers, but below that reserved youtubers who push the ender 3

And why does the position of the circle matter ? Effluent flows downwards ;-)

Unfortunately gifs don't seem to work on this forum.

I'll have another go later :-)

Aside from Prusaslicer settings can you please post up a screenshot of your Marlin movement settings. And not steps but speed. Because the actual movement of our printer is gonna be the lesser of the Marlin settings vs. the slicer settings. That is both sets of numbers are limiters that say no more than so we can have real high numbers in our slicer but actual movement of the robot might be much less because of restricting firmware settings. So for control we need to see both.

Also can you tell us about the filament you used? What type, brand, and/or the amount spent on the 1kg or 2.2lb spool. Again for control. Cheap filament is cheap filament and we will work to make it print nice. Expensive filament just prints nice and makes our rigs look better than the cheap filaments will. The same can be said for PLA vs. PETG or other filament types.

And I will try to get one printed out at some point today and share all of my settings as well. Then we can try printing with each others settings and see what we get. Under an hr. is good time for a working iris box.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

nice - now we just need speed and temperature settings.

That's more the idea than just pictures of prints.
and please, NO BENCHIES !

There is a special circle of hell reserved for people who print benchies.
It's above the circle reserved for creality engineers, but below that reserved youtubers who push the ender 3

And why does the position of the circle matter ? Effluent flows downwards ;-)

Unfortunately gifs don't seem to work on this forum.

I'll have another go later :-)

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All included in the project file.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AutoWiz

Aside from Prusaslicer settings can you please post up a screenshot of your Marlin movement settings. And not steps but speed. Because the actual movement of our printer is gonna be the lesser of the Marlin settings vs. the slicer settings. That is both sets of numbers are limiters that say no more than so we can have real high numbers in our slicer but actual movement of the robot might be much less because of restricting firmware settings. So for control we need to see both.

Also can you tell us about the filament you used? What type, brand, and/or the amount spent on the 1kg or 2.2lb spool. Again for control. Cheap filament is cheap filament and we will work to make it print nice. Expensive filament just prints nice and makes our rigs look better than the cheap filaments will. The same can be said for PLA vs. PETG or other filament types.

And I will try to get one printed out at some point today and share all of my settings as well. Then we can try printing with each others settings and see what we get. Under an hr. is good time for a working iris box.

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My marlin settings match the slicer settings pretty closely. Slicer estimate was 57mins. Time taken was 59 mins. I’ll add some pics to this post shortly.

Filament was 3d fillies pla+, transparent grey. ~$27 AUD/kg (one of the cheaper filaments we can buy here, similar price to eSun).

The larger one was 3d fillies pla-steel in copper (no longer available) and the white micro one was some trash pla sample that came with the tronxy.

I know we aren't looking at this print, but I did it anyway as I need one. Just noticed this design needs a bit of support under the outer edges of the "wings" (it's a really old design). Done in eSun's ABS plus at 260/110. 0.2mm layers. Time was ~2 hours

Can you show me this on your Prusaslicer please under printer settings..

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/922/2zPRys.png

And this in your Marlin settings in configuration.h..

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/922/DHKMAk.png

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/923/9Uqeuv.png

You might notice my numbers are low. I have been printing with PETG for a while now and aside from comparison am eager to try known good speed settings from someone else's rig.

Not sure if my "known good" settings are necessarily suitable for your rig.

All the slicer settings are also available in the linked project file.

Maybe not but it sure is fun to watch my i3 try. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2kWS-r8uXg

the 3mf file just comes up as the iris box.

what slicer does it do something else in ?

PrusaSlicer.

If you load the file in PrusaSlicer it is already sliced but for his printer. It will have your printer probe multiple point on the bed and it will try to force .6mm line width.

It always was and really still is just bad advice to happily try to print a already sliced file or a file sliced for another rig. Slicing is so specific to the robot that is gonna run that Gcode.

But it is a great way to actually compare our machines. Yes I know there never was an i3 that could hold a candle to a coreXY but I think I am the only one here with an i3 so it is fun to bounce my little rig off it's limits. It is also a good way to see how good my i3 can do.

I am still working on dialing back settings slowly to get the best time out of a functional iris box with my i3. Trying my hardest to get it down under an hr. print time or as close as possible. With all the time spent printing PETG I have some setup work to do before I can compete and compare with you guys in print time.

Have you guys watched my little video? It is running super silent TMC2226 drivers. All that noise is just them terrible smooth rod bearings that were cheap junk that came with the printer in early 2016. It is painful to listen to that printer run. Lol. I have to get some new LM8UU linear bearings in my i3. It sounds like nails on a chalkboard no matter how much 3 in 1 oil I smear on the rods.

Good summary. That project won't probe on start though. The Prusas do, but the CoreXY just homes and prints.
It will start the print at around 180,180 though so that would be 'interesting' on a small bed machine.

Main reason for sharing the project file is that it includes all my settings - linear advance, cooling, bridge settings, seam positions, etc. All that stuff that's not covered by simple speeds and temps but may have large effect on printing time and quality.

Here's a slightly better calibration/benching print than the dinoclip one I posted. The author of this clip has included STLs for different tolerances.
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints...t-in-place-cam

I just printed the stock version with 0.1mm tolerances on a Prusa Mk3s with a 0.6mm nozzle.

Very good post.

lol the pictures on the prusa site show it clipping a banana stalk, and in some grass.
But not actually holding a bag shut.

weird looking thing though, I'll give it a try.
Although i don't eat crisps (chips to you foreigners).

It's an interesting looking design.