After browsing Thingiverse a bit I ended up on the "Mustache Ring" for my first, proper, test. It has some nice detail and doesn't take too long to print so one can experiment a bit.
First proper test object. Mustache Ring. |
So far I haven't had any big issues getting the plastic to stick to the printer bed, but changing the filament and using the new Skeinforge settings apparently made a huge difference. All of a sudden it wouldn't stick at all. At first I though I needed to up the temperature in the print head, but that only made it worse. I also played around with the height of the nozzle over the print bed. Supposedly you should have the nozzle touch, or even press a bit into, the blue masking tape, but that just made the PLA bunch up around the print head. Reducing the temperature back to 185 degrees C in addition to increasing the distance a bit did the trick - although now it almost stick too well and I have to rip the masking tape off of the bed on larger objects. I doubt that is right.
I soon realized I was going to need something to help unwind the filament from the spool since I can't go over and unwind a chunk every 15-20 minutes on multi-hour prints. Yet again Aitripper saved the day with his design for the Pocket Reel Roller. He also lists his settings for printing this, but I needed to change those around quite a bit before I had something passable.
Mainly I had to change "Speed -> Object First Layer" (all to 0.2) and "Fill -> Infill Solidity" (to 0.9). Print time was around 2.5 hours.
Third print of this part. |
With roller bearing installed. |
All installed - turns pretty easily as well. |
2 comments:
Hi. How is the Sumpod printing going now. Do you have it working well yet?
I'm still working on that part. The printer performs consistently and when I finish the heated platform I think I'll have the physical part of the build nailed - then it's just tweaking the software parameters left :)
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