It seems my settings weren't a million miles from where they should ideally be (and I'm sure further improvement is possible, and I will keep pursuing improvements), but in the space of an evening's work, the quality of parts that I am now producing has improved markedly.
Here is a photo of some of the various test pieces produced while working my way through the calibration process, tweaking the various SFACT settings as I went:
And to see how far I have come - here is the first RepRap TearDrop Shot Glass http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11944 that I made about 4 weeks ago - one of my first "successful" prints:
Here's a rather better one I made a day or so later, when I had got my backlash under control:
And this is what I am getting now:
It's still not perfect, but it is MUCH cleaner and "tighter"than my previous efforts - and I am seeing the quality improvements in my other prints as well
Looking nice! A big improvement over the last few weeks.
ReplyDeleteWhat speed are you printing at?
I was previously running at 25 mm/s; these latest prints were done at 30 mm/s. (I was more interested in "quality" than "quantity" of the parts that I can produce.)
ReplyDeleteNow that things are starting to come together (and I am starting to understand SOME of the finer points of the numerous SFACT settings), I will probably try cranking the speed up a bit to see what this puppy will do!
What sort of print speed is typically attainable for a well-tuned Prusa Mendel?
I think that most people run in the 30-40mm/s range.
ReplyDeleteHowever, given the quality I've been able to achieve so far at 60mm/s, I'm going to aim for a 100mm/s rate.