Hardware recomendation for thiner layer

peirof

Hi,

i have a Delta, and works great for medium, big prints... but for small prints....buff.

I d'like print some small pieces, or pieces with a lot of detail.... (Mainly wargaming figures...25/32mm tall), and test what i have do with Tevo Little Monster, are not good.

For this reason, i d'like a second printer, i prefer a FDM, cuality of DLP are outstanding... but resin its expensive, and post work... bufff....

WHAT HARDWARE I WILL NEED?

First, and the most important. What kind of FDM (Cartesinan, Delta, CoreXY,....) With a print volume of (100x100x100 mm will be suficient).
What layer height i have to point? 0.05 mm
What material its suitable for this height? ABS?
Someone knows a printable project(RepRap?) of this kind of machine?

Phaedrux

I've seen some very good printed minis come from the cheap Ender 3 after some modifications. And the Prusa MK3 obviously. But honestly I think it has more to do with the slicer configuration than anything else. A smaller nozzle diameter can help, but even a 0.4 nozzle can give good results. 0.1 layer height seems to be a sweet spot for minis. You don't gain a lot more detail going down to 0.05. PLA and proper layer cooling would probably work better than ABS.

Veti

@peirof said in Hardware recomendation for thiner layer:

i have a Delta,

can you elaborate on what the problem is with the prints?
PLA is the material for 0.05 prints.
But a lot comes down to slicer settings

dc42

Delta printers can produce prints with find detail if the mechanics are good - in particular, no sticky carriage bearings or joints. Using 0.9deg motors instead of 1.8deg helps. If you want to maintain travel speed, then with 0.9deg motors you need 24V power.

Martin1454

@phaedrux said in Hardware recomendation for thiner layer:

I've seen some very good printed minis come from the cheap Ender 3 after some modifications. And the Prusa MK3 obviously. But honestly I think it has more to do with the slicer configuration than anything else. A smaller nozzle diameter can help, but even a 0.4 nozzle can give good results. 0.1 layer height seems to be a sweet spot for minis. You don't gain a lot more detail going down to 0.05. PLA and proper layer cooling would probably work better than ABS.

On my old printer, The sweetspot for maxium detail was 0.07mm layer height. - lower than that gave nothing, and had small issues, but on "round shapes" it was easy to see a diffrence between 0.1mm and 0.07mm

A well calibrated E-steps is crucial for <0.15mm layers - I can recommend the fine tuning of e-steps from this guide:
https://reprap.org/wiki/Triffid_Hunter's_Calibration_Guide

peirof

Someone has experience in this kind of prints.... miniatures? and can say what they use?

Resume, for the moment:

My actual delta, modified TLM, can be used.
Recomened change stepper motors from 1.8 degree, to 0.9 degree, only in towers, or in extruder too?
Think, in this forum, have read a mod, for chage tower belts, for linear guides? Someone can give feedback?
I think, i have read, that recommened layer height its 0.7 x (Nozzle Diameter), in this moment, (0.4 x 0.7 = 0.28 mm), for print miniatures, ver high, if i aim to 0.05 mm layer heigh, 0.1/0.7 = (aprox) 0.15 mm recommened Nozzle diameter..., 0.2 Nozzle, mmmm --> Clogs, or the 0.7 factor, can be minor....

Some useful changes in Duet config? (Microstepping, adjust steps of extruder,....)
Ender... and Prusa, are cartesian printers.... no Delta
What slice settings have to tweak, for these kind of prints (Speed sure, maybe dont try to print too many models, for avoid displacements,....). More, please.

Veti

There are lots of videos on slicer settings on youtube.
see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqEWl51s9Rw

fma

When I have to print very small parts, I usually use natural PLA, which gives very good results. I also have some colored translucent PLA working very well (I think opaque PLA does not cool down as fast as translucent ones...)

I also recently tried this PLA, handling high temperature: https://www.extrudr.com/en/products/catalogue/green-tec-natur_2172, which also gives very nice results on small parts (I printed a pretty good tiny Benchy boat).

But I'm also thinking to buy another 3D printer, dedicated for small parts, with a very fine nozzle (0.25mm). I think a Cetus mkII or mkIIIcould be a good choice toot (but more expensive).

A friend just bough this printer: https://www.3dprima.com/3d-printers/3d-printers/primacreator-p120-v3-blue/a-22548 which it very good (I'm thinking to buy one for my brother who don't know anything to 3D printing). It may be a good choice for printing small parts (it does have a heat bed).

There is also this nice DIY design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3356860

bot

One thing to consider is extruder resolution. You'll want basically the most resolution you can get if you want to print tiny things with 50 micron layers. The combination of the (presumably) thin nozzle widths, the small layer height, and the minuscule segment length will mean that the added resolution will allow you to more accurately extrude the tiny amounts of filament for all the details.

peirof

@bot This implies.... almost two thigs:

Extruder motor its recommened of 0,9 degrees steps, like axis.
Direct drive setup, no bowden no fliying...

No? Something more?

peirof

i have see, that Ultimaker S5, can print until 20 microns ( ).... eeee, for only 5.500,00 € , standart DLP printers do it in 50 microns, some can reach 10 microns....

In this moments, in my case, i print 0.25, 0.1618, 0.10 micras, for (Rought, normal and fine).... but 0.02 seems unrearchable.... Its posible close to this numbers....?

Wyvern

A limiting factor that is often overlooked is lead screw nut lash and linear bearing/ Z axis smoothness and bind.

At super low layer heights a slightly sticky bearing can cause the print bed not to move enough or at all- or worst case scenario, it doesn't move one layer, then drops down 2 layers the next.

I am currently having this issue with my FT-5 R2 and remedying it with new 12mm sized rods and bearings along with lead screw anti-backlash nuts, 2:1 Z axis ratio and a .9 stepper.

To me lower than .1 becomes mind-numbingly slow and problematic.