Printing issues (only one area).

[dunginhawk]

So i got a new hot end today and got it installed (thanks guys at SeeMeCNC, fantastic service).

First couple prints were the fan shrouds. nothing to write home about, some banding etc.

THen i tried this vase, which i knew wasnt a keeper, but i thought id see how it would print over time.
Here are the pics.
[img]http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m562/dunginhawk/4575F38C-6E10-40AF-AC66-23C6CE2F1C05_zpszmw19lny.jpg[/img]

that one doesnt look too bad, does it? thoughts?


Then on one of the six corners, this disaster....

[img]http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m562/dunginhawk/FE2E9867-D0B4-4E49-9525-024A4E23C0CB_zpsdkxjxumq.jpg[/img]

thats not holes, just thin plastic.. not good at all.

I certainly have to get that resolved.
the closest tower was X ...

ANy ideas guys?
thanks

[Polygonhell]

You need to watch the print, most likely that area is at the start of the path for a layer. And you are probably having the extruder skip on the retraction. The easy way to confirm this is to disable retracts and see if you still have the same issue.

[dunginhawk]

Mind sharing what retracts are and what are the pros and cons to disabling them? obviously to troubleshoot this... but any instance where you would want them off all the time?
thank you


On a completely separate issue.
I can NOT fit my peek shroud in... I dont mean the fan, or anything, but any place i try to put it 1. the wires going up top, zip tied get in the way. The other way, the thermister wire is in the way. there just doesnt seem to be a good spot... i dont want to force it.

thanks

[Earthbound]

Retracts are a behavior controlled by the slicer software.

Each layer consists of many movements of the hot end. Movements may or may not include extrusion of material, depending on whether the nozzle should print or is just being repositioned. Because of gravity and/or thermal expansion, the nozzle will tend to ooze a small amount of material after the extruder stops. To prevent this ooze from occurring, slicers can add a retract instruction before a repositioning move so that the ooze doesn't create stringing during the move.

If the retract setting is too aggressive, the hot end may not begin to deposit material immediately at the start of the next printing command. Retract setting options differ among the slicer programs but generally include length (how much the extruder should pull back), speed (how fast to pull it back), and threshold (how far a non-printing move needs to be in order to trigger a retraction).

Disabling retracts might lead to a messy/stringy print, but if it eliminates the thin spots, you'll know that tuning the retraction settings is the right path to follow. I agree that it is probably related to retraction. Most other issues which cause thinness like that would not be localized to one corner.

.
.

I found it a little challenging to mount the PEEK fan shroud without moving the wires around a little.

My configuration ended up with the PEEK fan at 12 o'clock (closest to Z tower). On my stock hot end mount, the notch for the heater/thermistor wiring is just to the left of the aluminum spacer at 6 o'clock. The thermistor is at 9 o'clock. The tips of the shroud tuck into the gaps between the PEEK section and the wiring. I'd take a picture of it, but Apollo is in the middle of print right now.

[dunginhawk]

here is the print without retract...
equally awful on all sides.

[img]http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m562/dunginhawk/439CAF18-FA0A-4255-8F07-FFCC32EB68E3_zpsrzkz8bw2.jpg[/img]

[dunginhawk]

ok./... interesting.. put retract back on, and the next print looks just as bad... i wonder if somehow the setting didnt save??/ im going to try yet again... seems like such a waste of line, but i guess its cheap.
man ill be happy if i can ever get this tuned

Third straight that had this issue... hmmm

[dunginhawk]

so i canned repetier (just because i dont think that retract setting was coming off effectively). and started up mattercontrol again.
this print with mattercontrol is about 3/4 done and i dont see any of that issue... maybe a tiny bit of some problems here or there... ill post a few pictures later when it finishes...
certainly looks 100x better, but im still seeing every line, but perhaps thats just how abs is?
PLA may be different? but of course i can never get this damm fan in

[Earthbound]

You'll see every line on every print. You can make them smaller by using a smaller nozzle and shorter layer height, at the expense of much longer printing times. ABS can be acetone vapor polished to remove lines after printing.

I'm using Matter Control almost exclusively now. I get much nicer prints than I saw with R-H. One thing that annoys me with Matter Control is the craptastic SD card transfers. So much slower than R-H. Usually just end up shutting off the Max, pulling the SD card and sticking it in the PC to save locally.

[dunginhawk]

thank you earthbound... its just amazing some of the quality i see coming off of the same printers we have perhaps different nozzles, or better tuning.. Ill post pics of this little mini vase i made when its done... i think it looks good, but others may disagree.. im a total noob
what i really want to do is get some bronze colorfabb and start making some bronze stuff and sand/polish that up...
but of course im not going to waste money on expensive filament before its tuned to the gills.

[dunginhawk]

so here are three shots of the print... just a small 2 inch tall (scaled down) vase...

what are your initial thoughts? again, i am super new to this, so i can only go by what ive seen online...

[img]http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m562/dunginhawk/4AB62C9A-0080-4635-80CE-5DD9D73DCC61_zpsgtwyyr9x.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m562/dunginhawk/615D0C11-8404-4E9E-8651-7E57835AF5DC_zpsqgms0xya.jpg[/img]

then this last one is about 8 o clock on the printer, maybe 9 o clock.. close to the X tower.
[img]http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m562/dunginhawk/F2B62D7E-639B-4799-BC8A-C077857F3761_zpscnmroire.jpg[/img]

im not sure if that would even out with acetone or not..

[dunginhawk]

so i did an acetone vapor treatment... noticed after 10-15 minutes it had hardly been effected... so i let it go longer, and of course it warped some.. thats fine, it was just a test.. but
1. i need to figure out how to do the acetone thing better.. more effectively...
2. perhaps the layers in my print were just too crappy to be fixed by the vaper.

so when you guys look at the pics above, would you say it was too bad of a print to really take the acetone ?
thanks in advance.

[dunginhawk]

im guessing since i used nail polish remover not real acetone that could have been my problem.. ill try it again wednesday

[teoman]

try this
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2lm6FuaAWI[/youtube]

[dunginhawk]

i dont know if i like that the horizontal surfaces dont get impacted very much... where as the steam vaper seems to do all sides..
i may try it if the real acetone doesnt work.
thank you

[Eaglezsoar]

Concerning the slow SD card transfers, I always pull the SD card from the printer and plug the SD card to a card reader/writer built into the computer.
The speeds on a computer based card writer is always going to be much faster than using the USB connection from the computer to the printer.

[teoman]

It will have ore or less the same effect. Except that it is much slower so you have more control over the process.

[dunginhawk]

So is there any way to help smooth the flat horizontal surfaces? Thanks