Going slow
Slow down, you move to fast. You've got to make the moment last.
Over the weekend I was experimenting with really really fast feedrates for my Thing-O-Matic. 1 What I discovered was that if I start even a complex object off very slowly, I could run the Thing-O-Matic pretty darn fast. 2 The tricky bit was getting that first layer to print slowly enough.3
After some poking and prodding in Skeinforge, I found the settings here:
- Raft -> Object First Layer -> Object First Layer Feed Rate Infill Multiplier (ratio)
- Raft -> Object First Layer -> Object First Layer Feed Rate Perimeter Multiplier (ratio)
- Raft -> Object First Layer -> Object First Layer Flow Rate Multiplier (ratio)
I set each of these settings to the same value. However, my target range was between 10 and 15mm/s. So, I look the Feedrate from the Speed settings, and discovered that I would have to reduce my Feedrate to 30% of it’s normal speed in order to get within that range. Thus, I entered 0.3 in each of the above settings.
The result was an almost agonizingly slow first layer – but a print that adhered well to the heated build platform, did not deform as the infill was applied, and provided an excellent base layer for the rest of the print. 4
| Tagged with | base layer, calibration, feedrate, flowrate, jakob e, object first layer, print-o-matic, profilemaker, raft, skeinforge, snail | 11 comments |
11 Comments so far
The Ruttmeister
Low speed base layers are the only way to fly baby!
Now you guys just need to implement acceleration… and do an update for us poor souls running Gen3
Blows people minds when you show them ‘cool’ slowing layers down too.
twotimes
I agree, cool is awesome!
Dave Durant
Also check out the Perimeter feed & flow settings in the Speed module. Set them both to the same value less than 1.0 to print the outline of the object slower than the infill prints. It’s a good way to increase quality without adding tons to the print time.
The Ruttmeister
@Dave,
I have more trouble with infill going too fast on thin areas… although the ability to print loops at lower speeds would be awesome, might help to reduce the issues with holes ending up too small.
MakerBlock
@Dave: That’s a great tip!!!
Alex
Sounds like a great piece of advice but surely only suitable for stepstruders? I’m fairly certain my trusty MK4 dc motor would die on me if i slowed it down that much…
Dave Durant
Damned blog software just ate my detailed reply.. Grr..
@Rutts: mess with the number of shells.. It’s not a perfect solution but doing that will change the infill line length and might make the machine happier. the sweet spot will change for different objects – don’t expect to find one profile that works for everything..
@Alex: try extruding at different flow rates in the repg control panel. Start at 255 then down down (-10 each time) until you find the lowest value that it will reliably extrude at. Divide that number by 255 and that’ll tell you the lowest flow rate ratio you can give to skeinforge. The performance of these motors varied wildly – some will only extrude at full speed (255) and some will go down to 180 or so. Hopefully yours is more than one of the lame “it’s on or it’s off” ones..
Alex
Hi Dave, thanks for the tip – Managed to drop it down to a respectable 204! Far better than nothing
Luke
@Rutts: I’ve had good success with stretch plugin and adjusting perimeter feed/flow rate (under speed I think) for holes and all around better lamination.
Online Store
Low speed base layers are the only way to fly baby!
Now you guys just need to implement acceleration… and do an update for us poor souls running Gen3
SparkySD
The only drawback is that when printing an object with a large base area, the slow feedrate and flowrate on the base layers cause the extruder feed mechanism to heat up so much that the filament melts prematurely and the extruder motor no longer grabs the filament tightly.
The filament actually cools down the feed mechanism as it passes though, so if the feed rate is too slow, then the feed mechanism gets too hot and it eventually melts the filament and fails.