Getting better quality prints

[bryantp]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to 3D printing and the Orion Delta is my first 3D printer. I have had a lot of fun printing things in PLA, but have noticed that my print quality seems less than that of a Makerbot that is in the office. I was wondering if there was anything obvious that I was missing.

Here is an example of an off print.

What would cause that?

I don't have the print settings for that particular model. I printed something last night with the following and it had similar defects:

1. Bed Temp: 60
2. Extruder Temp: 210
3. Line Height: .13
4. Infill Density: 20%

[Glacian22]

It looks like you're over extruding, hence the lumps and/or undercooling. I'd try upping the fan, and lowering the temp to 200, or even a bit lower if the PLA you're using will still flow. Also, what speed are you printing at? On my Max, I've found that it'll handle high speeds fine, but if I want a really super smooth surface finish I need to back off to 40-50mm/s.

[RAMTechRob]

Yes, that is what I was getting at first too. I am now running at 200-202 on the extruder temp, and if I get strings, I use an oozefighter setting for retraction between moves.

[bryantp]

I generally don't touch the speed setting. So whatever is the default. Still trying to get my head around what settings are controlled by GCode and what I can fine tune on the printer itself.