I may be going about it wrong but in the short time I have been printing the best indicator of temp is to print something that is thin wall with no infill 1-2 layers thick then break it and check for layer adhesion. It shouldn't just break clean when you pull it apart. I have to print ABS @245 to 250 to get good layer adhesion, I have tried all the way down to like 225. A good part to test this on would be the clips for the corner of the bed that I sent you, if they are too cold they will split apart when you try to clip them on the corners of your bed. Here is where I got the STL file for those

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:575489/#files

The gcode I sent you was for four of the small radius clips and I believe I had to run them at 250° for good adhesion. I also included the STL file for it.

Quote Originally Posted by tsteever View Post
Another common suggestion I get is that my print settings are too hot. Not sure how people can tell this (Shiny parts). I am printing the above at 215 degrees. Not sure as that seems low to me. I did shoot it with a non contact thermometer and it read low. Significantly lower than 214. I know this is a surface temp and not an internal temp but if I were printing too high I would think the external temp would have been hotter than 180.

Has anyone else temped their hotends? It would be nice to have something to compare it to. My thought is that the black from Colin is just a shiny material. What are some other brands to try out?