Creuzer – Page 45 – Random things Creuzer

Carabiners and more Carabiners that I have printed

It seems like when I try to print something, I print out lots of iterations with minor changes between the two. I got tired of cubes < http://mike.creuzer.com/2012/03/working-on-fine-tuning-the-printer.html > so I switched to something that may actually be useful. Carabiners. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:18390

The 1.75mm Natural colored PLA printed awesomely for me, but I had gotten that plastic combo figured out. I had a terrible time trying to get it to print in 3mm Black PLA.

I've got it all sorted out now it looks like. The black isn't perfect, but it is certainly serviceable.

In album

Holding a black PLA Carabiner done at .3mm layer height. The tray of 4 just got finished printing. I was playing with the Slic3r multiple copies settings.

Full sized and half sized Carabiners.

This is done at 0.05mm layer height in 1.75mm Natural PLA. The layers are so fine you can’t see the individual layers. The layering you see here is actually multiple layers and I think is caused by the temperature going up and down.

See how much courser the ones in the background look compared to the 0.05mm copy?

PLA is very hard, so to make the Carabiners springy, the designer added this little slot. It can now flex.

A handful of small black Carabiners

This is the 0.05mm layer height about half way done. The layers are so thin that it prints the edges clear. The white center is the ‘infill’ and that captures air, so it turns white.

Two different settings, the right one is .2mm layer height and 3 shells, the left one is .3mm layer height and one shell.

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Printing PLA at .1mm layer height on my MakerGear Prusa Mendel

The cooling fan I tried first didn't work so hot. So I found another bracket style and thought I would try printing that to see if it would work better. It does!

I really like this bracket, it's so simple, and so effectively matches to my MG Prusa. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:13343

I was amazed at how .1mm layer height looks. The natural PLA came out almost clear looking. It printed great until I got to the small, tower bits. Then the print completely fell apart. Printing too fast, there isn't enough cool time for the PLA to set, so it's still all rubbery when the next layer is put down, so it just flexes all over the place and looks terrible.

I ended up printing 2 copies of this part. The first one I ziptied onto my printer so I could print the 2nd one. The 2nd one is much better than the first. I almost have my cooling settings right. Maybe adding 2 fans, or trying a higher powered one would be the answer. Things to try in the near future.

Common Settings
Makergear Prusa Mendel
Sic3r.7 Pronterface.7
1.75mm PLA @ 170c extrusion, 60c blue tape on glass on heated bed.
0.1mm layer height with .35mm nozzle
Retraction 2mm @15mm/s w/ .25 z lift

First Print unique settings
Cooling default settings using restrictive cone cooler nozzle
– min print speed 10mm/s
print speed default settings
– small perimeters 30mm/s

2nd print unique settings
changed cooling setting
– min print speed 5mm/s
changed print speed settings
– small perimeters 20mm/s

In album

0.1mm layer height fan brackets. The ring section looks really good. The part that sticks up from the rings looks terrible from being too warm when the next layer is added.

You can almost read the green text through the plastic rings.

Beauty and ugly at the same time.

.3mm layers on the left, .1mm layers on the right. Almost can’t see the layers at .1mm.

Using the first set of new clamps, the towers on these look MUCH better. Not perfect yet, but these are serviceable where the others where not.

Very little cleanup is needed.

This is the old cone fan. It looks like a good idea, but isn’t up to par with what is needed.

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Print him I did

I printed out a Yoda http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12288 the other night for my friend's 5 year old. He turned out pretty well, but not perfect. I need to tweak my cooling a bit yet.

Some dry erase markers on the natural PLA, and he looks pretty good. It's really hard to photograph these things though.

Print Details
MakerGear Prusa Mendel
Slic3r.7 Pronterface.7
1.75 PLA
.2mm layer height @ 170c extrusion 60c blue tape on glass on heated bed
Print speed 30,30,60,60,60
Retraction 2mm @15mm/s w/ .25 z lift
Cooling on default settings with cone cooler.

The cone cooler is to restrictive, so I had hacked half the cone off to allow more air flow. This gave a clean print on the fan side of the print, but the lee side printed terribly.

The fan works miracles on PLA, if it can reach the PLA. I am thinking 2 fans would be in order…

In album

Yoda, all colored like. I need to get a DSLR so I can focus ON the object I am interested in, not behind it.

Yoda’s good side.

You can see the left side of his face is kinda gloopy while his right side is really nicely done.

Gloop city. The lines are suppose to be parallel and flat. A lack of cooling allowed them to wander all over the place.

He is nearly finished.

All done & still on the printer!

I printed him out at half size of the original model. I was running low on PLA.

He has an earring in his right ear.

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One of the suggestions to me to improve my print quality was to add a fan that blows…

One of the suggestions to me to improve my print quality was to add a fan that blows on the print and help cool it faster. So last night I printed it, and tonight I installed it. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:10988

It didn't work. Too much back pressure, no air came out of the nozzle at all! Just to test the 'fan' theory, half way through the print, I pointed a case fan at the print and it instantly improved in quality.

So, the fan is needed, my first attempt failed miserably.

In album

The fan mount I chose looked quite promising. It mounts around the existing X carriage and directs air towards the print area.

A little fan fits in here.

I found myself in a room, with an orange marker, and my cone shaped nozzle. Of course it’s going to become a road cone.

It points at the print area. It stays off during the first layer, so the layer can stick better.

Doesn’t look very good does it? Half way through the print, I turned a larger fan on it, and the square pillars became square shaped and not the shagbark hickory shaped they where before.

A little subtractive modification to my additive manufactured part, and I think I may have something serviceable. Air actually moves through it now.

Nice big hole for the air to come out of.

It is installed. Time to test it would be tomorrow, as I am nearly out of filament and need to ration it or I will end up going days without printing.

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Working on fine tuning the printer

One of the things that it needs to do is go from pillar to pillar without forming strings of plastic and also to bridge between the pillars forming a solid piece.

I've been trying different settings and taking notes on what they are and comparing them to the photos for reference.

In album RepRap PVA Bridging and Retraction Tests (14 photos)

1.75pla @175 .3mm layers. Retraction of 1mm @ 30mm/s, .25mm z lift. Slic3r .7 Pronterface .7 MG GG Sprinter

1.75pla @170 .3mm layers. Retraction of 2mm @ 30mm/s, .25mm z lift. Slic3r .7 Pronterface .7 MG GG Sprinter

1.75pla @170 .3mm layers. Retraction of 1mm @ 15mm/s, .25mm z lift. Slic3r .7 Pronterface .7 MG GG Sprinter

Stack of the 3 trials so far. First on the bottom, last on top. Stringing is getting better.

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