new printer, made a few prints one messed up bad. Trying to learn, some questions...

[codejoy]

By extruder calibrated you mean leveled?

[Alibert]

Nope, I guess he means that if you direct the extuder to pass 100mm of filament, you actually measure that 100mm has come out. You will need to remove the nozzle in order to measure that. Google is again your friend here.

I have a Qidi tech and the extruder steps/mm are an exact replicate of the Makerbot ones. Never needed to adjust those settings. Do select 'Replicator Dual' or 'Replicator 1 dual" and not the pro or dreamer settings in your slicer.

Could you try the following?: reduce the nozzle temperature to 200 C and the bed to 60 and halve all the speeds you listed (like 20mm/s for the shells, etc).

Now check the display while printing, it should read 200 C for the nozzle and 60 C fo the bed. If not then you probably have an override setting in the startup gcode which needs to be removed.

See how that works. If that gives you a good result, work from there by carefully adjusting just one parm per time. Part of getting good prints is getting to knowhow your printer (and firmware) works with your slicer.

The supports you need to break away after printing, and tidy up the spots where it touched the print. Supports in ABS are very easy to clean up, PLA and PETG are a lot harder and may require some light sanding.

Also, the quality of your filament will affect the results greatly. The free stuff you get with the printer is OK, but you need to tweak your slicer settings a lot to get good results. More expensive stuff tends to be less fussy. Having said that, with the necessary experience you will get good prints with more or less any brand, cheap or expensive.

[codejoy]

Thanks again Alibert, I did (well am doing another print) I set it to 195c but didnt halve the speeds. I will have to google the 100mm passing filament... cause I have no idea where in makerware that setting was (I should find a slicer and just stick with it). I am still shocked the first print I attempted did awesome until the head...if I could get ReplicatorG to add supports I would be doing better, as of now its exporting a x3g model that is normally 3mb as 495 bytes. No idea why it decided to choke.

The latest build at 195c still produced a shoddy base, and what makes me really go hmm is that it fails in different ways on the head of this model. Like different sides of the face...plus I am still impressed with the first models detail on the shirt, all other attempts even though im getting the thumbs up has not near the detail on the shirt. I like that you have a qidi, and yes I am using the same stuff it came with. I am learning a ton though, just tinkering in the slicer a few things clicked of aha- thats what it is.. etc. I should check the firmware and find a good slicer. What do you use as a slicer? Tomorrow I will try again with the diff temps and halving the speed.

I took a video of this latest print at the 195c (wont post it was 54mb) but it showed the head getting all whisked around like it was gummy..the whole thing. It seems like its not cooling fast enough? or something it is mushy and that is why I think the head prints with holes etc, its not gummy though (like that first print that was just a ball of jacked up plastic). So far though happy my catan tiles turned out okay want to slice those again with the more shells to see if those pits and holes go away

[codejoy]

Just got the print and thought id share between first one with replicator G and this one, I did also level the print bed cause I thought that was what was meant by the extruder comment in the last post.

The shape is there, but bad detail in the jacket belly part, compared to first.

P1060944.jpg

P1060945.jpg

Then the base again...
P1060946.jpg
And the face deformity (It is a nuclear fallout spokes person I guess). I am not married to this model I think its a good one to test with though as its high res and complexish.

P1060947.jpg

[Marrrs]

... the head getting all whisked around like it was gummy..the whole thing. It seems like its not cooling fast enough? or something it is mushy and that is why I think the head prints with holes etc, its not gummy though (like that first print that was just a ball of jacked up plastic)...

You are on the right track here. Each layer has to cool before the next is made. Turn on fans in your slicer and you'll see a difference.

Sometimes, printing tiny stuff, the fans are not enough. Then I usually print two models, with a distance, too allow more cooling time. Just keep the best looking one

Edit: The holes in flat surfaces though: thicker shell = more horizontal layers, as well as higher percent infill helps, if the machine is properly set up.

[Alibert]

I concur with Marrs. I too think the PLA is not cooling off enough which becomes more pronounced at the head part.

As the Qidi does not have a dedicated cooling fan for PLA, keep the front window open and the hood (top) off to allow some ventilation. You can also point a desktop fan at it after the first layer has been laid down. And reduce the speeds. And reduce the speeds. And reduce the speeds. And reduce the speeds. You are putting layer on layer too fast so that it cannot cool and solidify.

As this model has a limited XY dimension, you can also print it in ABS (you should have received a spool of that as well). In my experience ABS always gives the best detail, least ooze and best overall result. It does however shrink, so you need to scale your print if you want true dimensions and you cannot use large X-Y distances as it will curl up (warp) when it cools.

For ABS use a nozzle temprature of 230 C, a bed temperature of 95 C (forget the 110 C, that is an error from years ago that just won't die), use a glue stick or extra-strong-hold-hurricane-proof hairspray as bonding material (preferably on kapton tape or glass), and use a raft and supports.

As the glass point (where the plastic becomes deformable/rubbery) of ABS is around 105 C whereas PLA is around 65 C the layers will cool sufficiently and the object will not 'wobble'. With ABS you close the front window and keep the top hood on (unless you live in the desert and ambient temperatures are very high). Also set the speed for the shell to less than 30mm/s and the infill to less than 40 mm/s. That should give you a much improved print with good detail. Better to wait a bit longer for a print to complete than to waste hours and hours of failed prints....

[Sebastian Finke]

Your printer looks like a Replicator 1 clone. This is a good thing.

1) Please go to the Flashforge forum and see the stickied thread for the sailfish manual. Pay particular attention to Chapter 5 regarding calibration!

2) Don't use RepG. Ideally use Makerware (download link also in the Makerware Forum) or purchase Simplify 3D.

3) Basic PLA guidelines: extruder temp +/- 200C, platform temp +/- 60C (glass point of PLA is 65C so don't exceed that)

4) Print some calibration cubes. Only once that's nailed is it worthwhile to move on.

[Alibert]

Your printer looks like a Replicator 1 clone.

Yes it is a replicator 1 dual clone, and a very nice one too. I use sailfish firmware with it and the results are indistinguishable to my Flashforge Creator dual (another very good rep 1 clone).

This is a good thing.

I agree, of all my printers, the replicator 1 clones (FF and Qidi) are the least problematic and dependable. The 8mm acrylic frame of my chinese i3 wobbles too much (a new frame is in the making) and my Kossel Max build is a bowden setup which gives me a no end of headaches. The direct drive extruders of the replicator clones are much less fussy and much more precise with respect to blobbing/oozing. I am seriously contemplating of converting the Kossel max to a direct drive with a geared nema11 or nema-8 to keep the weight low....

I also agree heartily with Sebastian's point 4). No use in wasting plastic until you have the basics nailed. And buying Simplyfy 3D is a no-brainer. It will save you a LOT of grief.

Nevertheless, if you try the ABS you may find your problems solved for this particular stl file.

[codejoy]

Thanks so much Alibert and Sebastian, and that manual to Sailfish was a total treasure. I ran through the calibration, mostly checking my diameter of my filiment and I used that to print the following test cubes. First one was printed at 10% infill, second one at a 100% infill and infill layerheight of .3mm (is that the layer height or is there another layerheight setting?)

So the 100% infill did not come out at all, rough edges, over hanging...and what confuses me is it is concave, which according to the manual is a sign of under extrusion? Though the pictures on google the rough sides and that look more like over extrusion?

The heat was 200c for pla, and 60 on the build plate. Travel speed 150mms and zaxis 23mm/s (when you say halve the speeds do you mean these as well?) I did halve all the other speeds in the extrusion speeds. I just am not used to recognizing what is going on. Also that best print i got on the vault boy with the replicatorG was done when I said the diameter of the my filament was like 1.82mm ? I got digital calipers and it showed between 160 and 165. I know things were said to be changed in small increments, but not sure where to go as I cannot tell what my cube result is doing if it is over or under? The 10% infill one was pretty nice (tiny bit of concave i.e. the 'walls' were higher than middle and only one slightly gouge this time. Though I am guessing with models with more material (vault boy?) or with more infill like the demo the settings are obviously not right as that test cube didn't come out. So still doing the PLA and just the test cube to nail down a perfect cube, just not sure what this result was? Also it did say the manual to change the feedstockMultiplier of the makerware and I cannot find that anywhere (is this in addition to filament diameter a way to adjust the over/under extrusion?)

One last thing, in regard to the Simplyfy 3D does it really make life that much simpler? Is it because it has the profiles all built in for such a printer? or makes them easier to tweak? It is 150$ and I am curious how the payoff comes?

Here are the pictures....

(Pics with 100% infill working from chapter 5)


P1060948.jpgP1060954.jpgP1060955.jpg

and the first test with the new filament diameter and 10% infill (working from chapter 5)

P1060957.jpg

[janetfdoss]

Question 1:

So i got a new qidi tech printer and did the test cube from ReplicatorG and a few other things. They printed pretty well, examples that did great were:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:350055

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:570039

and this one (Brick Rev ver2)
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:26979/#files

All did fine...



This one failed bad:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:179150

(attached pic).
My question is what settings should I tweak or try, or maybe what did I do wrong to get it to come out all jacked up after the thumb part? Was it a setting? I used PLA and a heat setting I am guessing was too hot. It does have a heated bed too and I used recomendations made in the systems user manual. The gcode settings were this:

Object infill %10
Layer height .2
Number of shells 1
Feedrate mm/s 80
Travel feedrate 100
Print temp 220

(I am guessing the temp was too hot but no idea).

Oh use raft/support was on. None for support material. Use default start/end gcode and use print-o-matic was checked. Not sure if any of this helps, I used the settings for all things actuallly which brings me to my second question:

Question 2:

Is there anyway to mitigate the 'gaps' in a flat surface? (attached picture gaps circled).

Finally question 3:

What is the general finishing technique people use and tools? I know the support on the bottom can be peeled broken off but its still not flat? Sanding?

What paints are best? Primer? If going to paint pla model, what color filament is best as base?

Sorry for so many questions but I am excited to start to learn just not sure where to start looking, figured the forum here.












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Attachment 8141

All of the question has been answered correctly . Thanks for sharing here.