Print is taller than nozzle while printing

[traxon]

Good news! I re-printed the same file, except I made it 50% in every direction this time since I'm impatient. Printed pretty good for being so small! The only other changes were adding an 8" desk fan aimed at the nozzle, and I lowered the bed temp to 60 C. One of those fixed it! Maybe the next print or two will confirm... I think I was actually cooking my prints with the bed temp being too high. This Keenovo pad dishes out some serious heat - maybe the temp readings are a little different.

I usually use a 120% extrusion width - some people think it's better, and I think that's the default in some slicers. And some people say equal to nozzle size is better. I guess I will experiment. Yes, I'm printing PLA today. Often, I use PETG - great stuff. About to try polycarbonate since I can do higher nozzle and bed temps now. =)

I often push the nozzle temps as high as possible unless I see significant problems, since the layers get stronger. Often 220 or even 230 C and it's usually fine. With PETG, I find it impossible to print high temps without a lot of stringing - I did a zillion test prints the other day and nothing I tried helped at all other than lowering the nozzle temp close to the bottom end of the range (stock setup - before titan aero).

I normally print the first layer with 0% fan, then 100% for all other layers. Maybe 50% is enough though - I'll try that (once I figure out how to mount a real part cooling fan). Oh yeah, in another series of tests I did, I found that the part cooling fan was causing tons of stringing with PETG. I've been printing PETG with no part fan at all since and the results are great.

I just verified it's a 0.4mm nozzle, and thanks for making me look - the heater block got loose somehow lol - didn't leak though.

So my nozzle is 0.4, and in Simplify3D I have the nozzle set to 0.4, but you're right, there is some spacing between the lines in the first layer. I've had this issue with both of my printers for a long time actually - the lines never touch. I already have the bed too close to the nozzle if anything - you almost cant pull the paper out when I'm leveling. I have to or the first layer won't go down right, or the print will fall off the bed. If I turn up the extrusion multiplier, that causes problems. I have it set at 1.00 now actually (not 0.90 like previously). And I already calibrated the extruder steps/mm so it extrudes exactly 100mm when instructed. Is there another setting I should try fiddling with in the slicer to get the lines to touch better?

Here were some of my main settings for the mini benchy I just printed: 0.40 nozzle, 0.48 extrusion width, 1.00 extrusion multiplier, 1.0 retraction, 100% first layer (default was 120%), 60 C bed, 204 C nozzle, desk fan for part cooling, 40mm/s. Just attached a few pics - remember that's a mini benchy. =) The red one is from months ago, just for size reference.