Considerations over layer width
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Hi,
after read about layer height, i have do a draw.... In this draw, only i haved in account nozzle diameter, If I have not misunderstood ... to know what is the ideal layer height, it would be advisable to coincide with the movement of a step of the engine ... that part I am missing ....
the idea, is when the drawing is correct, for a Nozzle 0.4 mm, do it for other diameters.
I would appreciate if the drawing was revised, since I'm not sure it's correct...
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Your drawing seems to agree with what I've seen.
I have a spreadsheet with some rules of thumb.
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I thought the rule of thumb is the minimum line width is supposed to be 1.2x the nozzle size and you can go up to something like 1.5x nozzle size for max line width.
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@jamesm that's the problem with rules of thumb. Everyone has their own thumbs.
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We will wait for other opinions ...
but the table that has @Phaedrux post, is very close to the drawings I have posted, taking into account, the information on the web:
Extrusion considerations -
For what it's worth, I find I get the best surface quality with an extrusion width equal to the nozzle diameter. Occasionally I'll use a wider extrusion width for inner perimeters and infill, but top solid infill and external perimeters are nozzle diameter.
I also think that these rules of thumb start to fall apart when you get into the larger nozzle sizes. 1.2x or 1.5x a 1.2mm nozzle seems a little extreme. Even with a 0.8 nozzle it's getting pretty fat. For vase mode prints that's fine and for interior walls that's fine I think, but solid infill starts to get really messy at such a large diameter, and getting good anchoring with walls starts to be an issue.
Different materials also react differently to being over extruded like that. PLA handles it pretty good. PETG less so. It's also going to depend on your nozzle geometry. How much of a flat is there at the tip?
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I have a .3mm nozzle on my ender 3 and mainly print .2mm layer height and .4 line width. I make custom cookie cutters for my wife and that combo makes very nice prints. On my Taz 6 I have a .4 nozzle and print .5 line width with .25 layer heights. Both are E3D V6 hotends and E3D nozzles. I'm still working out issues on the Taz though...can't seem to get consistent smooth walls. Already replaced a bent lead screw which helped a little.
