3D Tuning Calibration Print

thingiverse

--== WHATS NEW? ==-- ADDED 2 NEW TESTS #6 / #7 ADDED Bed levelling test pattern Removed combination print FIXED #2 print breach issue (Small lip on underside causing bad prints) Test item 1 - FOCUS: 'BRIDGING' : This test is purely to test bridging methods. Starting with a small 1mm bridge and ranging to 10mm. Most cheap 3D printers will not print bridges this big, so what you are expecting is drops in the filament the bigger the bridge gets. However, All printers should be able to print a 1mm bridge with no problem at all. So try and gauge where your printer starts failing with bridges and adjust your supports to cover bridges from this length -1 mm. If it starts drooping at 5mm, then support bridges from 4mm upwards. Test Item 2 - FOCUS: 'ANGLES Vs HEAT' : This is to show how the printer copes with printing sloped walls at various angles. You should see that your printer manages to print all sloped walls (with no supports) with no problems. The surfaces should be smooth and when complete, should not be brittle. So snap each of the angles of the base. If you didn't have to put much effort into breaking them, it could be that your layers are not bonding correctly meaning it is not hot enough when laying each layer. (Look at test item 3 for this test) On the other hand, if your angles look like they are melted, deformed or not smooth at all, it could be that your heat is too much and it doesn't have enough time to cool before printing the next layer.. It's usually on sloped angles that you also see blobbing (bits of plastic stuck to the outside of your print). This is usually cause by over extrusion, or not enough retraction. For guides on how to modify this, please google it. Test Item 3 - FOCUS: 'WALL STRENGTH & STRINGING' : This test will check to see how your layers are bonding and see if you suffer from stringing. FIRST CHECK FOR STRINGING... When printed, look inside the tubes and between them. You should not see any strings of plastic between any item. If you see strings, then you will need to adjust your retraction rate on your printer. Please google on how to do this for your specific printer. After checking for stringing, pull the cylinder layers apart. (I don't mean apart from each other, but as if you are pulling them apart layer by layer). Essentially, it should be very difficult to pull them apart, but not impossible. The harder they are to pull apart, the more successful the bonding of each layer was. Please ensure you pull all the cylinders apart as this also checks if you bed is level to a certain degree. If you find that 1 or 2 cylinders are solid, but others are not, it could be that your bed needs releveling near were they sat. so please make sure you take note of where they are located on your bed before taking them off. Test Item 4 - FOCUS 'SUPPORTS and STRINGING 2' : When printing supports for you model, sometimes the supports get knocked over from the nozzle, or the supports themselves are just not strong enough, so that by the time they reach where they need to be, they do not line up. This test prints very thin rods which increase distance between them as it goes on. You should not see stringing between these as these are not actual supports and by the time it has finished printing, all rods should be stood up straight and have smooth outer layer. If your rods fall over at any point during the print, abort the printing to avoid making a mess. and if you cannot get these to complete, you may need to look at some other settings on your printer like extrusion rate or heat bed settings etc.. Feel free to place helper discs with this test, but each test already incorporates a platform base. Test Item 5 - FOCUS 'BRITTLENESS, LAYERS AND INFILL' : While printing, check your infill and determine if the infill is strong enough and neat enough. There should be minimal stringing during infill. When printed, remove from bed and snap off each vertical riser starting from 6 and going to 1. They all should be equally hard to snap off, but of course the thinner '1' will be the easiest. but never-the-less you still should have to put some considerable effort into snapping them off. If they snap off easily, then this is a sign that the layers are not bonding. See test 3 to help with this. Once you have snapped off the vertical pieces, then snap the square bases of each vertical layer to test for brittleness again. With the biggest base square (under #6 vertical rise), use a flat bladed screwdriver and in the center of the cube, hit the screwdriver into the middle splitting the cube in half. It should be very difficult to do this, and if its easy, its a sign of brittleness. Try to prise apart layers from the split pieces of the cube and check the infill strength and shape. Brittleness can be cause by too little heat at the nozzle to bond the layers together, Water moisture in the filament, or a breeze blowing over your prints which in turn cools them down too quickly. There are more reasons, and you should google 'brittle 3d prints' if you want more information. Test Item 6 - FOCUS: 'HEAT' : This test is designed to show you if the hot end is too much for small delicate areas which are worked on a lot. Everyone will have seen this before. A Print is going perfectly and then towards the top of a model were the hot end is just finishing off the top of a dome, point etc.. it all starts going wrong. This model will show you were you need to start switching on external fans to cool it down quicker by giving you a rough guide what to look for. If you can print this all the way to the top perfectly, your hot end heat settings are perfect. but please remember that the bigger parts might cool down to quickly so you will need to use a bit of judgement and external hot end fans. Test Item 7 - FOCUS: 'DELICATE' : This is one of the hardest tests to perform and should not be attempted until #6 can be completed first. This will show you if your printer can print delicate details without being too hot, or disturbing the print layer below. Sometimes you will see your printer knocking your print when performing delicate prints a certain angles. So when printing this, you are looking for the hot end knocking the print along with warping of the sticks. The offset rings should also print perfectly too.. but were the rings end, you may notice the delicate sticks will start to warp of distort. if this is the case, it's an indicator that you need more external hot end cooling for your printer. EXTRA - Bed levelling This is purely a pattern that prints and shows where the bed is not quite the same height as the rest. Use this to level your bed within 5 minutes. Click print.. let it draw the outer square then check that the filament height is the same all around, and that all the square has adhered to the bed. Adjust as needed and repeat. I hope these tests help you identify some common issues I have seen during my printing experience. If you have any questions, or would like anything tweaking, please ask. Print Settings Printer Brand: MakerBot Printer: MakerBot Replicator 2 Resolution: Standard (0.2mm) / High (0.1mm) Infill: 10