Bad Print Quality - Which Settings?

[RCLifeOn]

Hello!

Let me begin with saying that I'm a beginner with 3D-printing. I built my Anet A8 just a couple of days ago. I'm using Repetier Host with Slicer.

Layer height: 0.2
Nozzle diameter: 0.4
Nozzle temp: 195
Bed temp: 55
Material: PLA

Take a look at the whistle and the cube. Even though the cube looks pretty much perfect, the whistle doesn't look good at all. What settings should I change to achiev better quality?
Picture: http://i67.tinypic.com/15pn0nd.jpg

My second issue is with the top layer. Take a look at the cogwheel. How can I increase the amount of fill in the top layer?
Picture: http://i63.tinypic.com/29axro0.jpg

I really appreciate any help, thanks!

/Simon

[curious aardvark]

do you have a cooling fan blowing on the print area ?
That's the first thing you need for pla and I do mean NEED. It's not optional, for a good pla print it's essential.

Second, up your print temp a bit - try 200-210. I find that gives me much better pla results (but obviously with cooling fan).

third print with more top and bottom layers. I usually have three set. That will give you a more solid top and bottom to your prints.

But on the whole they look pretty reasonable :-)

[VonKlutch]

yeah 210-220 has been my butter zone for PLA with my Overlord.

Also Ive never use slicer, but with simplify 3d you can state how many top and bottom solid layers it prints. when printing a topside surface, i find if i want a really nice top i'm in the 3-4+ range. I've noticed that it takes quite afew solid layers to get that finnished layer, and even then i'm not 100% happy with how they turn out.

as for the whistle, The print doesnt look too bad. does it work? is it solid?
Check your wall layers, i like to run 3 (remember theres usually like a 60% overlap), also if you want less drastic "steps" as it rounds towards the top, you're going to need to up your layers to like .1
I just printed a ring at .08 (anything lower is almost unnoticeable) and it came out pretty badass. But you sacrifice time with quality.

Also looks like its slightly underextruding, so I think you'll find better results if you up your nozzle temp to 210-220 and maybe knock it down to .1 layer height.

[Stwert]

The cog wheel just looks like it needs a few more top layers.
Other than that, download a calibration cube and print it with just 1 wall, set to the same diameter as your nozzle, so 0.4. No infill and no top layers.
Let it print about halfway and stop the print. Let it cool and use a micrometer to check the wall thickness. That'll let you know if you're over or under extruding, adjust your extrusion multiplier accordingly to the result of the thickness.