Underextruding, not enough top solid layers, infill %, filament or other?

[threedee4me]

again thanks to all for the great help!!

[1 - i read the chapter 5 and will mess around with the settings. first thing i did was increase the extrusion multiplier and it helped alot. so you are right about the under extruding.

THANKS!

I concur on the likelihood of under-extruding. threedee4me, in addtion to Sebastian's sailfish reference, just search the internet for "extruder calibration". There are countless videos and references that will help you understand what it is and how to go about it. Triffid Hunter has his own calibration guide that people often get referred to. That might be something to look at when you see it in the search listing.

What the process basically does is help you tweak your printer and slicer settings so that the printer is cranking out the proper amount of extrusion volume. Calibration usually involves printing something like a solid (100% infill) cube and observing what the final result looks like.

You might also consider adding some info about your setup to your signature so that readers know what you have for a printer, slicer, etc.

I will look into this also. i am making progress slowly though. the setting in the software are overwhelming me when you dont blank from blank yet. but i am working it!

thanks!

[iDig3Dprinting]

Calibration usually involves printing something like a solid (100% infill) cube and observing what the final result looks like.

This is the best way to go about it.

Print out 20cm cubes, tweaking your settings as you go, remember to label the cubes when printed so you know what you have changed for which cubes and then you can compare there quality.
The recommended layer height is about 80% of nozzle diameter but there is variation around this that depends upon you extruder and stepper motors that effect the level of error that creeps in.
The optimal layer height is based on your microstepping capacity (determined by stepper drivers), your stepper motor steps, z-axis thread and your extruder gear ratio. For a flash forge we do not know what these would be so you will have to find the best one for you by altering your settings.

To get optimal printing you have to print a lot of cubes tweaking as you go.

[threedee4me]

thanks for the added information. which actually and inevitably brings up more questions:
1] once you get the best settings / sweet spot is that a constant from here on out or you need to do this with each spool of filament? or at least with each type of material abs, pla, petg etc... or finally does it vary on the type of print?

thanks

[iDig3Dprinting]

Once you have it dialed in for pla, for a particular layer height it makes things easier but you will still need to go through the same process for different materials, although it is likely that the settings you use for layer height and 1st layer width etc will transfer across materials. ABS for example uses higher temps of the hotend and print bed but you should have a closer starting point to dial in the rest from your first calibrations.
Saying that you should then go through the process of printing out cubes and tweaking the settings for a particular material. Then if you buy a different filament brand but for a material you have already calibrated for that gives you a good place to start again, your print settings then may work for the new brand but you may need to tweak slightly again. Even printing different 3d models may require refinement.

The thing to do is to get some well calibrated starting points for each material you are going to use, then when you need to work on the final production, tweak again at that point.

This is where the advantage of proprietary systems with bundle filament systems come into play as the machine, the software and the filament are all designed to work together making for a more consistent push and print workflow.

[curious aardvark]

I never do calibration cubes. Once you've got your slicer settings working, pretty much the only thing you need to change are the printing speeds and temps.
The rest generally doesn't need changing.

Different brands of pla will perform differently at different temps and seeds. And to a certain extent so will different colours of the same brand.

Generally pla will print best within the 200-215 temp range. Speed wise I usually go somewhere between 40-70 mm/s.
Remember to up the temp a little if you up the speed.

But no, I don't do complicated calibration prints.

[threedee4me]

thank you !

[threedee4me]

Once you have it dialed in for pla, for a particular layer height it makes things easier but you will still need to go through the same process for different materials, although it is likely that the settings you use for layer height and 1st layer width etc will transfer across materials. ABS for example uses higher temps of the hotend and print bed but you should have a closer starting point to dial in the rest from your first calibrations.
Saying that you should then go through the process of printing out cubes and tweaking the settings for a particular material. Then if you buy a different filament brand but for a material you have already calibrated for that gives you a good place to start again, your print settings then may work for the new brand but you may need to tweak slightly again. Even printing different 3d models may require refinement.

The thing to do is to get some well calibrated starting points for each material you are going to use, then when you need to work on the final production, tweak again at that point.

This is where the advantage of proprietary systems with bundle filament systems come into play as the machine, the software and the filament are all designed to work together making for a more consistent push and print workflow.

got it. thank you!

I never do calibration cubes. Once you've got your slicer settings working, pretty much the only thing you need to change are the printing speeds and temps.
The rest generally doesn't need changing.

Different brands of pla will perform differently at different temps and seeds. And to a certain extent so will different colours of the same brand.

Generally pla will print best within the 200-215 temp range. Speed wise I usually go somewhere between 40-70 mm/s.
Remember to up the temp a little if you up the speed.

But no, I don't do complicated calibration prints.

thank you too. i need to find the sweet spot and then i hope to basically set and forget. but i will play and learn till i get to a point that does work good enough.