Chain Link Fail

I am trying to print a cable chain similar to this one here:

[www.thingiverse.com]

Unfortunately, the prints aren't coming out too well as you can see here:




I am printing PLA at about 190C and I have a fan blowing from the front of the hot end toward the back of the print bed. The parts are oriented with the curved portion toward the back of the print bed as well.

Print speed is 50mm/sec and everything else is set at 30mm/sec.

I checked the belt tension and it seems ok to me. Any ideas/suggestions? One that comes to mind after writing this is to try printing it with the curved part toward the front of the bed and/or sideways to see what effect I get.

I had a similar problem trying to make similar parts. Try turning the pieces around so that the curved part faces forward, so that the air from the fan hits it as soon as the nozzle moves on.

Thanks DavidJ.

I'll try that when I get home tonight.

I printed the parts again - this time oriented with the curve pointing toward the front of the bed (and the fan) with the following results. Definitely did the job! Thanks DavidJ!

I also made a couple of changes:

Fill percentage lowered to 20% - so it doesn't hang around the ends too long when printing
Print speed lowered to 30mm/sec