Printing settings

Find below some notes of different slicer settings that work better for me.

ABS PLA

Layer height of 2mm gives general good results, use 0.125mm for better quality.

Infill density of 20%-25% gives general good.

Calibrate bed every 5-6 prints.

Acetone bath: Wet a paper with about 50ml of acetone, put paper and objects in an enclosed container for about 4 hours. General better results for ABS, shiny cool look.

Multiple colors single extruder

You can change the gcode file to pause the print, change the color and continue the print at a specific height. Apply the following patch the the desired height: 

M83 ; turn on relative movement for extruder
G1 E-5.000000 F6000 ; retract filament 5mm
G1 X0.000000 Y0.000000 Z4.000000 F9000 ; home X and Y axis leave Z at current height
M84 E ; release extruder stepper motor from 'holding' position
@pause ; pause print!
G1 X0.000000 Y0.000000 F9000 ; upon resume, rehome X/Y in case position was bumped out
G1 X69.080000 Y58.560000 F9000 ; move back to next layer starting position
G1 E0 F6000 ; reset extruder, ready to push out plastic again
G1 F9000
M82 ; set extruder movement back to absolute ready for next layer
Lothopane use Lithopanes tool, decrease gama of the pic, set Z 0.2 and espessura 0.35, print at 0.125mm layer height
Troubleshooting printing issues

Inconsistent shell thinkness and nozzle size

The Shell Thickness setting in your slicer determines the thickness of the walls of the object. It has to be a multiple of the nozzle diameter. In my case, I have a nozzle of 0.4mm, so a thickness setting of 0.8 mm means that walls will be 2 lines wide.

The two following prints show what appears to be lack of extrusion in some layers. The problem was caused by inconsistent shell thickness and nozzle size in my slicer (Cura). The slicer was producing 1 wall before the infill which caused the vertical lines where the support is connecting to.






















Y belt too tight

I strengthened the bed belt (Y) too much and it resulted in a decrese of quality in the oposite axis, as shown in the pictures below:






















Underextrussion

Underextrussion will cause some layers to be missing, similar to the photo below. Normal causes are not enough temperature, or dust in nozzle/filament. It can be usualy fixed by cleaning the nozzle with fire and acetone.