testing the 3D printer material/dimensions

thingiverse

I have watched many videos about finding the right 3d printer material temperature (there are many temperature towers), and many videos for understanding the tollerances of your printer. In both cases I haven't been satisfied at all. with the temperature tower you do not understand at all the layer adhesion, while finding the tolerance of the printer depends on the material, the temperature of the nozzle and the size of the nozzle. Hence I created mine which solves both problems. 1) print the STL using default parameters from cura 2) just use different temperature, in may case from 190 to 220 degrees Celsius, 3) try to break the print 4) as you can see from my pictures for this PLA: - at 190 °C there is little layer adhesion - at 200°C it breaks as it is brittle - at 210° it is much better - at 220°C there is no change from 210°C it means that we want the lowest best temperature so that there is no need for cooling. THEN reprint the one with the temperature chosen and get the measurements. as you can see from my pictures, you will then understand the tolerance of your printer (means that for the holes you have to divide by 2), in my case the tolerance of my reality is around 0,25mm. You can use cura to compensate it, and enlarge the model using the parameters "expansion". Remember: the tolerance changes based on the dimension of the nozzle and on the material, so you have to repeat the test for PETG, ABS and so on... usually if you change brand for the same material it doesn't change much, so you do not have to repeat the test. as usual, enjoy....