Monday, 17 October 2011

Cheers!

Well, I think I have now got to the point where I thoroughly deserve a toast to my success and progress so far - so I downloaded the STL file for the RepRap Teardrop Shot Glass http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11944 and printed one off - and here it is under construction:


And here's the finished article, still bonded to the Blue Tape print bed:

Separated from the print bed - note the "raft", and the internal "whiskers" where the extruder has jumped across from one side to the other when changing to the next layer:

And after some cleaning up:

No, it's not perfect - but it neither does it look like a 3D spider's web, like my first few prints. The outside layer shows a few "sagging" layers, while the inside surface actually looks pretty good, and both the top face and bottom face of the horizontal shot-glass bottom look pretty tight.

Cheers!








(Wait - what's that I hear? Someone is asking if it's actually watertight, and did I actually get a drink from it? No! It leaks like a sieve! But never mind - it's onwards and upwards from here!)
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3 comments:

  1. Triffid Hunter18 October 2011 at 08:43

    Hi,

    in order to slingshot you through getting your prints to look really nice, you have /tons/ of backlash there!

    Symptoms: perimeters not lining up, curved sections have flat spots

    So, what to do?

    1) tighten belts. They should make a tone of 100hz or more when plucked like a guitar string. That's a low G sharp for the musically inclined

    2) make absolutely certain that your pulleys aren't slipping on your motor shaft. I found grub screws were insufficient, and now I stick my pulleys on with hairspray AND tighten the grub screws down as hard as they go.

    3) make sure your nozzle isn't wobbling vs your X carriage. tighten everything if it is, add paper or other spacing material if the mount is loose

    4) make sure carriages aren't wobbling vs smooth rods. I had a massive jump in quality when switching from spiral bushings to my LM8UU-sized bushings.

    5) tighten belts again. record prints with video camera. Press Y+0.1, Y-0.1, Y+0.1, Y-0.1, try to work out which bits don't move when the motor shaft does.

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Drew18 October 2011 at 09:43

    Great comments above by Triffid Hunter.

    Judging by the stringing, you also have to adjust your retraction distance, add some more in.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Julian Hardy18 October 2011 at 13:27

    Thanks Triffid Hunter & David,
    I had a feeling I might have a backlash problem, but I didn't know what are the symptoms to diagnose this, or how to fix it. Your comments should give me a flying start on improving the quality of my prints.
    I'll work on eliminating the backlash tonight, and report back on my progress.

    ReplyDelete

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