Cube3, problem with walls and top layers

[Mstruthers]

I'm having troubles or dislikes with settings for better fills and understanding how to build and/or assign dual color for prints. It seems unless I get a predesigned model from thingiverse that can already be assigned dual colors, I can't do my own.

This is why I'm trying to find another slicer or tips to get the most out of this little machine.

[Lapscar]

The printer has capricious cartridges, and from the program it can be seen that the PLA plate is fed at a temperature of 232 degrees Celsius.

1. Is it like this for everyone when printing PLA?
2. What is the temperature when printing ABS?

IMG_20220527_234808.jpg
I used natural PLA. Judging by the fact that when printing resolution of 0.2 mm the model will turn out to be more hazy in the light (model on the right), the resolution of 0.07 mm layers is better (model on the left).

I tried to print a model with wall 1.5 mm, but the top layers on the wall did not print at all. Then I made a test model in FreeCAD to determine the capabilities of the printer. Unfortunately, the model depth of 10.0 mm turned out to be insufficient for the PLA filament to cool, so serious defects are visible. However, I followed the print (premium mode: resolution 70 microns, infill strong) and saw that the top layers only begin to print on the 3rd far right (2.4, 2.6 and 2.8 mm thick).

IMG_20220527_234440.jpg
The thickness and height of the model walls are from 1.2 mm to 2.8 mm in 0.2 mm steps.

3. Can the printing temperature be reduced?
4. What is the best program for printing on this printer?

The magic numbers are 0.9 and 1.8mm thick.

The wall 1.8 mm thick 4th from the left.
Who will want to print a Test-Boby.zip, I will leave in the attachment STL (polygonal mesh) and for FreeCAD (for quick resizing).

[TommyDee]

Those look good. When I design the part, I use 0.9mm for a pair of walls and 1.8mm to get the slicer to make 2 pair, or 4 walls for a robust print. The default for the printer is 0.5mm offsets (so 1mm and 2mm) but these values I recommend will crowd the walls a little and makes for a more rigid print.

Forget 70 microns. Set your gap properly ( I touch lightly with the filament - barely a hold but least distortion) Run a cooling tower on small prints. Let the printer go to some corner and build a pillar.

The settings in the print file are 260C for ABS.

Do find buddybu's cube3editor for diving into the files. It is an excellent adventure of its own and I commend John every chance I get; Thank you John. Please, grab a chair because there is a lot of information here. Welcome to your new obsession ;]

[Lapscar]

Thanks for the great meeting and tips. I never imagined that I would be interested of printed models :]

I started looking at the topic with John's program, where you can set the material and other print options. But so far it's difficult for me. I'm fascinated that you can specify the print settings for ABS, because I can't find such cartridges.

Forget 70 microns. Set your gap properly ( I touch lightly with the filament - barely a hold but least distortion) Run a cooling tower on small prints. Let the printer go to some corner and build a pillar.

Interesting advice, but I just increased the length of the model by 3 times. The print time has only doubled. I set the parameters you suggested. You may be interested in the result.

IMG_20220529_035835.jpgIMG_20220529_032448.jpg
I painted the top layer with a red marker so that you can see the sintering of the top layer with the specified wall thickness. I couldn't refuse the resolution of 70 microns (didn't change the print settings), because it's more convenient to view the model.

When checking the model for strength with a fingernail, it turned out that at the wall with a thickness of 1.8 mm, the outer one was not welded together with the inner ones. There should be the function of smoothing a top layer (concentric filling the upper cover, ironing).

[TommyDee]

Beautiful work! I am surprised the 1.65 drew 4 traces. That I will have to explore further. You can see with the 1.8 where the 0.5mm spacing is maintained on the return path but the crowding happens between the pairs.

In the editor, you can increase the pressure at the nozzle and this will increase the 'fatness' of the traces. Alternatively, you can adjust the velocities.

Also, you can fool the system when it comes to chips. If you make an ABS print, you can use a PLA chip. Simple output a ABS print and change the header to read PLA. Then feed the printer ABS for its ABS print file. Basically you are telling the machine it is a PLA file but you know you sliced it as an ABS file.

Fusing between walls only happens at the stop/start point. If you make a cylinder and cut it along the seam, you will have two individual sheets. A great way to see how well your filament is flowing.

One other thing you might like; load the CubePro app and load the Cube3 file. You can do a preview of the sliced file.