Posts made by B0M0A0K

Sorry for the delay in responding.

I spent the weekend and every night this week running tests and tweaking my Cura settings. I also reran my tests for extruder steps calibration and all the tests as outlined in the "Mat's Hub" document here.

The results look like this.

There has been a distinct improvement in the original issue as seen here with the central under extrusion..

... which now looks like this;

This this been achieved by a change and test process of printing temp, retraction tests, extrusion multiplier tests along with a few other maintenance tests.

As you can see I still have work to do to stop the rounded corners on the last two right-hand pillars, and there is some warping of the base. I'm going to start playing with dropping the bed temp by 5% intervals and see if that helps.

I am trying to fix an issue I see when printing, in this case using a series of angle tests. I spent yesterday running tests to dial in my retraction settings and today wanted to try and figure out why I am seeing warping in prints that employ and overhang element.

The one in particular I am trying to fix is an error in the printing of the DII Cooler. Namely warping around a nut hole. On this version the hole is intended to be elongated (I assume to help with positioning) but the area around the hole has warped.

In the photo you can also see that I am seeing what appears to be missing or skipped layers and I am trying to resolve this at the same time as the warping (I should maybe be focusing on one at a time).

So to test progress I setup to print the angle test by Schematix on Thingiverse.

I performed my usual pre-print tests, Z-Alignment, bed leveling, Bed cleaning etc. I then started the print with the following settings;

Wanhao Duplicator i3 V2.1

Duet3d Wifi Firmware: 2.02(RTOS) (2018-12-24b1)
Web Interface Version: 1.22.6

Cura 4.2.1

Resolution: 0.3mm
Print Temp: 190
Initial print temp: 180
Build Plate Temp: 60
Flow: 100%
Retraction enabled
Retraction Distance: 1.3mm
Retraction Speed: 25
Print Speed: 60
Travel Speed: 120
Initial Layer Speed: 30.0
Cooling Enabled
FAN Speed: 100
FAN Regular Speed: 100
FAN Max Speed: 100
Support: No
Build Plate Adhesion: Skirt
Skirt Width: 3
Print Sequence: All At Once

The angle test print came out as follows and you can see that there is what looks like missing layer on stacks 2,3 and 5 but not on 1, 5 & 6

This leads me into my confusion (and thereby my question) about what term I should be searching for when trying to find a solution. What is presented in this print could be classified as a "missing layer", but it coulds also be classed as "temperature variation" or even "Inconsistent Extrusion". I don't know the correct diagnosis of what I am seeing in order to be able to search for a solution.

Any suggestions please. Has anyone else experienced this and how did you resolve it please?

OK, that's all fixed. I closed Cura and restarted, the entry appeared and this time contained the setting "28". I set this to zero and the message has gone. I looks like I either ignore future messages or just remember to go and set that entry to zero before proceeding.

Actually, I kept increasing the retraction and eventually the "tail" disappeared. I needed to increase retraction to 1.3mm before this happened.

.. And it doesn't actually help if I don't tell you the settings I am using in Cura. Sorry, here are my Cura settings.

Resolution: 0.2mm
Print Temp: 200 and later 195
Print Temp Initial Layer: 200 and later 195
Initial print temp: 190 and later 185
Build Plate Temp: 60
Flow: 100%
Retraction enabled
Retraction Distance: 1mm
Retraction Speed: 25
Print Speed: 60
Travel Speed: 120
Initial Layer Speed: 30.0
Cooling Enabled
FAN Speed: 100
FAN Regular Speed: 100
FAN Max Speed: 100
Support: No
Build Plate Adhesion: Skirt
Skirt Width: 3
Print Sequence: All At Once

@mrehorstdmd OK, I took your advice and focused on using calibration cubes to set retraction first. Here are the results and it's clear that the farther away from 1mm the worse it gets.

One strange artifact that appears on all these cubes is the "tail". It typically appears on the first cube and varying lengths in between but always presents again on the last cube.

Any thoughts on what might be causing this?

@grizewald Thanks, unfortunately it is already set to zero.

@veti Oh, I've not been using any plugins, didn't even know about the Duet plugin but will go take a look now. Thanks.

Yes, g code flavor is set to RepRap.

Hi

I have started seeing the error message "Error: M141: No chamber heater has been configured for slot 0" following an upgrade to the latest version of Ultimaker Cura (version 4.2.1). I see from other posts that this is an error message that can be ignored and that if you interrogate the gcode produced by Cura you can see the M141 line.

This seems to be a new addition and I was wondering if anyone had managed to find the setting that triggers this message (so I can turn it off). It's that of [a]. Live with it or [b]. Manually edit the line out before every new print.

I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for good test print pieces that do not take ages to print and will allow for speedy test prints? I am currently using the Octopus print but it takes over an hour for each test.

@sethipus Hey, thanks again for the detailed response. I am aware of the Atomic Pull and have used it before. Your info on the E3D like the Titan Aero is most interesting and I may take another look at that. I have just completed putting everything back together and have re-aligned everything. I am going to go and look again at my config.g and undo the Steps per mm change I made then fire up Cura and start over with attempting to tune my prints.

@sethipus Thanks for this, that's a very well reasoned and useful set of instructions. I agreed with what you have said (I don't disagree with any of it) regarding the slicer used. I tried to print the Octopus after the successful cube test and it was so bad I had to stop the print.

I will go back and put everything back how it was, but will use your sequential diagnostic to work through everything else. The printer is in bits at the moment because I took the extruder and the hot end apart whilst checking the condition of the extruder gear and looking for blockages in the hotend. Didn't find anything of note but I am sure I was hearing a click from the extruder gear as it was passing filament and wanted to investigate that.

I'm going to go ahead with the Micro Swiss hot end because most folks seem to support this as a good upgrade.

Thanks again, I very much appreciate you taking the time to put this together.

@mrsdelish Thanks for this. I had been researching what I could do by way of an upgrade to the extruder or the hotend but was a little undecided because everyone has a different take.

My options so far are;

Micro Swiss Mk10 All Metal Hotend Kit with cooling block. (Straight replacement)

E3D Titan Aero HotEnd and Extruder

Various other suggested mods.

So I know I said I would try and get back to this tomorrow, but.

I was thinking about the suggestion of using Slic3r instead of Cura as my slicing software. I also thought again about what I was seeing, in particular the amount of material that was getting thrown at the print job.

So I installed Slic3r and looked at MeTube video on how to set it up with the Wanhao Duplicator i3. Then I loaded the print .stl file and checked for the suggested settings the video author was using. I entered the IP address of my printer and was very surprised when it successfully uploaded the new file (the "test" button had stayed grey when I entered the IP address so I assumed that the format of what I had entered was wrong somehow).

Then I cleaned and resprayed the bed and reset the Z-Axis.

Next I sat and stared at the "Machine Control" screen on the Duet3d and realised that I had not played with the Extruder Control settings in a while. I considered the excess material I was seeing and dropped the feedrate.

I started the job half expecting to have to hit the power button, but it laid the brim nicely and moved on immediately to the print job. I was stunned at how quickly this thing was printing. With my old settings each job was taking about 36 minutes, this print took no more than 10 minutes, start to finish.

The result was astonishing. There is no stringing and the print is perfectly formed (see attached).

Now I'm definitely going to call it a night and head for a beer.

I think I need to experiment more with Slic3r.

So I had another look at this tonight. Checked all belts, rods, fixings and any signs of rubbing, damage or dirt build-up. Tested the X-Axis again and minor adjustment (that seems to need adjusting every time).

There was nothing that seemed out of place or something that might cause binding. I'm not sure if I mentioned this but I removed the filament and refit it just to check that there were not signs of a blockage. Everything was fine there and I also checked that the spool (sits on top of the Wanhao and uses bearings) was not binding and that the filament was not snagging while paying out.

Next I turned my attention to some of the setting changes suggested yesterday. I dropped the speed to 50 and enabled "Relative Extrusion".

I then ran a repeat of yesterday's Calibration Cube.

Firstly, this did not complete. At 80% complete the print came loose from the bed and I had to reach for the emergency stop. I guess I should have cleaned and resprayed the glass plate before starting this one

Having said that, the print did not feature the issue I had been seeing (see the attached photo), so I'm not sure whether it was helped by dropping the speed or enabling "Relative Extrusion". It could have been a combination of both.

I am still seeing section that appear to have under-extruded such as in the photo where there is gapping at the join between the brim and the start of the print object. There is still way too much stringing so I need to look at that.

I'm going to have to leave it for now and see if I can make time to look again tomorrow.

@denke That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the suggestion. I will try and look at all the suggestion here tomorrow and let you know how I get on.

This was my first time trying out "fine" at 0.1, so it may have had a tendency to do this all along and this is my first time experiencing it. I was wondering if this was a red herring in that either it was a bad example to print or that perhaps Cura didn't handle it that well.

Thanks again.

Hello. No, I didn't turn on "relative extrusion" in Cura. I hadn't heard of that until you mentioned it. Sorry.

Oh, I should have added the print file for review. Here it is now.0_1566838593982_BM_Fine_RESCALED_0.5mm-thin-wall_100Fan_1-retract_RTRSpeed_30.gcode

Hello.

I am not aware of using any of the settings you mention. I tend to stick to the standard options in Cura 4.1.0 and just modify those as needed. I did wonder if it had anything to do with my up-scaling the print dimensions, but I don't see how that could have affected just that one area. I am also aware that it coincides with a large section of over extrusion on the upper left (in the photos) and am not convinced that these are somehow related. I just can't see how.