I3 Rework 3d Benchy Test Print

I am trying to get my I3 Rework properly tuned and calibrated and I seem to be making progress. I tried to print one of the I3 Rework Y-corners, but ran into a problem with a bit of Y-axis shift as shown here:



After much reading through the forum posts, I determined it was either the bearings jamming or not enough current to the motor. I checked to see if either the motor or driver board were getting hot when this occurred, but each seemed cool to the touch and the bed seemed to move freely enough in the Y axis. So, I adjusted the trim pot on the driver board (about 1/8 of a turn) and it seemed to get rid of the problem.

So, I figured I'd try the 3D Benchy test print and set CURA to the recommended settings as seen here:





The results weren't too bad, but not that great either as you can see here:







1. The interior "floor" of the model didn't print properly - not filled in all the way. The same with the roof of the cabin and the lettering on the bottom of the boat.
2. Overall exterior of the hull has a somewhat "lumpy" look to it with a few weird areas.
3. Overhangs around the top of the cabin arches and top rear cabin port hole
4. Smoke stack a bit distorted
5. Rear hull "nameplate" just a smear - no lettering.

I noticed while the boat was printing that when it came to the smaller areas, just before the nozzle moved on to another area to print the PLA would sort of lift up a bit because the nozzle seemed to sit there too long before moving on to the next spot. This was also apparent when doing the top of the arches and rear cabin port hole. The smaller port holes on either side of the hull didn't see much of that problem since the print head was moving faster during those parts of the print.

Also, I manually adjusted my hot end temperature down to 183C after a few minutes of printing and shut the heated bed off as well.

I am planning on completing these steps next to see if I can get a better print:

1. Check bed level
2. Print temperature extrusion test tower

Is there anything else I can do to make better prints? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2015 03:55PM by psneddon.

It looks kinda okay to me though, even my printer, fitted with e3d v6 + zortrax abs (leftover), first print kinda worst than yours, the angle bottom (hull or something) curled, the flat area (after infill) produced a lot of holes (between the infills), letter at the back of the boat not visible. Second print, filament set at 1.75 + 100% flow, 20% infill, the letter at the bottom of the boat somewhat bleed, the flat area after infill, mostly are closed with some part has a very small hole or thin area. My overhangs are quite good

Sorry no pictures because I didn't take the picture, my parameter are as follows on cura

plastic abs
layer .2mm
infill 10%
nozzle .4mm
perimeter/wall, 1.2
top/bottom .8mm
temp 230
size 1.73
flow 80%

second print
infill 20%
size 1.75
flow 100%

Regarding temperature, I can't say doing a temp calibration would give you nice thing too, because it is only used for that particular calibration model, I often use this basis, small objects use lowest temp your plastic can melt to avoid stringy finish and the previous layer from getting soft again, large use higher temp

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2015 01:37AM by sarf2k4.

75mm/s for printing and 150mm/s is way too high for a prusa i3!
My i3 would jumpf of the table if I tried those speeds.

Seriously - try printing at a much lower pace.
more like 30mm/s for printing and 50mm/s for moves.
i think that is what I have set it to currently.

sometines I even go a little slower - you will be surprised by the difference in quality.

for example the tree frog - with 26mm/s up to 30mm/s it prints perfectly and looks really really smooth except for some Overhang curling - when i tried it at 40mm/s print speed the quality took a huge hit!
So much so, I would not even dare to print it at 50 or 60mm/s let alone your 75mm/s


hope this helps some.

Alex

Ps: 185° seems to be way too cold for this speed. I am surprised you dont get much worse underextrusion.
I usually print white PLA at 58° Bed for dirst two layers then reducing to 55° and printing temperature of about 210-220°
That way my parts get a really glossy finish and are very tough to break.

so I would also fiddle around with the temperatures - but do one setting at a time and check how it improves the quality.
Also increasing you infill from 10% to maybe 20% could help the quality. But you got to try there.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2015 04:44AM by Alexander1984.

Sarf2k4 - I'm using PLA, so the temperatures would be a lot lower, but I agree with you about the temperature calibration print.

Thanks for the advice Alexander1984. I gave up on the benchy test and went ahead and printed a couple of other test items with no problems. Looking back at the speeds (75mm/s for printing and 150mm/s travel speed) may have indeed contributed to the problem.

The other items I've printed have been at a print spped of 30mm/s and the results were rather good. I may go back and try the benchy test again later and see what happens.

Thanks again all for the help!

Yeah, I notice you mentioned about your print temp too, it is best to have fan for pla for my experience using my stock hot end on pla, the corner easily curled even though minimum recommended temperature used at 190'c because pla will go soft starting at around 60-70'c. I don't know how I'm going to design my fan duct considering the duct can eventually crash into the bulldog clips.

I will also try to print this 3d benchy on much lower speed, I printed mine on 60-70mm too , so the overhangs or flat surface having holes might have been the results for that

When I got my new filament that is

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2015 08:35AM by sarf2k4.