I’ll reprint the test cube to see what I get for the Z dims.
Here are my settings. I’m a bit at a lost for what I would need to change if anything.
Kinda overwhelmed by the number of variables.
Any suggestions would be greatly welcomed.
All of those settings are what the machine is trying to accomplish. Over (or under) extrusion is often caused by the “E steps per mm” being off. This is based on the specific mechanical properties of your extruder (gearing, steps per revolution, diameter of filament driving teeth, etc.). You want to be sure that when you tell the machine “push through 10 mm of filament” it isn’t pushing more (over extrusion) or less (under extrusion) than 10mm. There are lots of tutorials available for dialing this value in for your particular machine.
I had good luck (quite some time ago) working through https://reprap.org/wiki/Triffid_Hunter's_Calibration_Guide which helps to fine tune a lot of aspects of the machine. I found this particularly helpful in getting familiar with a new machine.
https://3daddict.com/3d-printer-extruder-calibration-steps/ and https://all3dp.com/2/extruder-calibration-6-easy-steps-2/ are more targeted just at getting extrusion properly calibrated.
Once the mechanical aspects are dialed in for the specifics of your extruder, there’s an adjustment most slicers support for individual filament variations. In Slic3r it’s called “extrusion multiplier” and you tweak this to tune flow based on how far the drive teeth “dig in” to the filament as they work to push the plastic through, as that changes the effective diameter of the drive teeth.
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OK, I just finished the full 100mm cube and here are my measurements.
The dimensions in the circles are the Z axis dimensions at that corner.3
The red numbers are new based on the completed cube, black is from yesterday
We also did an extrusion test and measured right at 100 mm.
If the measurements are good, could it be printing speed as Ryan mentioned?
Based on the settings I posted yesterday are there any speed variables (or other settings) that look off I should try to adjust?
FYI, not sure it matters but I’m using a Lulzbot taz 6 with cura for lulzbot.
Those numbers are pretty good. I have no idea why your print holes are so small. I assume it will work in the end, Just go slow and do not over tighten anything since it will already be under pretty good tension.
Thanks Ryan. I had a friend test print one of the parts I was having issues with and his turned out fine. Im going to take a look at his settings later today and see if something stands out.
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FINALLY! got a good part. 23.1 mm for the diameter.
I ended up resetting all the defaults. I did follow recommended speeds and temperatures from the filament maker and used 2 wall lines. I would like to try 3 on the next print.
Cura for lulzbot has three different profiles, speed, standard, and high detail. Previously I had used high detail thinking it would have better dimensions but this time I tried standard.
Cura also defaults to printing inner wall lines first then outer lines. I changed that to outer wall lines first.
Not sure which did it, but its what I’m using from here on.
thanks for the help guys.
This can cause overhangs not to work as well, you might want to change that back.
Will do.
Thanks for the advice.
Where is this method explained. I’ve been reading this entire thread as well as your Tampa thread, I even Googled it but I’m not seeing what is being described. “What is the ‘Tape Measure method’?”
You cut a tape measure and stick the tape measure and the wires into some wire loom. Then attach the ends so the tape measure goes straight, turns 180, and attaches. The loop wil move, holding the wires in place.
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We need a hot linked “tape measure trick”, good link (Maybe new page in docs?)?
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So it’s a way of supporting the wires, the loom, giving it some rigidity, and spring at the same time?
Yup you can see it in use on this build of mine, and a link to the article.
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The tape measure is used instead of a cable chain
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In my build I broke down what I did to make it easier after the first attempt was a mess.
First, lay your wires flat the way you want them to be, no twists or anything in them. Tape them every few inches to 1 foot with some electrical tape to keep them laying flat.
Next, take the section of tape measure that you’ve cut down to size and sanded the ends so there are no sharp edges where you cut it and line it up beneath the wires the way you want it to lay and again tape it in place. This will make it so nothing moves while you go for the final step
Lastly, slide everything through the wire sleeve you’ve measured and cut to length. This keeps everything from sliding around while you’re trying to slide the wire sleeve over everything and keeps everything laying flat making for a much neater looking cable.
That’s it. I wish I would’ve read the first 2 steps somewhere before fighting with wires and connectors twisting around in the wire sleeve and driving me nuts before deciding to use a little tape to secure everything first.
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Well written. After reading the original tape measure post your explication made even more sense.
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I ran all the wires through and then just slipped the tape in last.
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Honestly, that’s what I tried first and the tape kept rolling around the wires and then between the wires and it was just driving me nuts. The little bit of insurance that you get from the tape, IMO, is so worth it.
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I finally implemented it on my Z axis on Sunday. Silly me put one of the ends on the stepper cable first, which happened to be the opposite end as the connector for the spindle. So I had to run one cable from one end of the wire loom and one cable from the other end of the wire loom. Total PITA, but it looks and functions great and I no longer have to worry about my cable for the Z stepper falling down around the end mill.
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