swimming in PLA - too much extrusion on corners/ends

[HoosierCruz]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for checking out my issue - it's my first post to this forum!

I am getting some extra PLA globbing-up on the corners and edges of my print. I took down the extr. 1 max feedrate from 100 to 45 and I even reduced the extr. 1 steps per mm by 33% and nothing seemed to change.

Here's a couple shots:

Thanks for all the help!!

Aaron

[duvdev]

it seems to me that the gap between the extruder head and the bead is too small so you get alot of melted filament in the hotend, the pressure in there is growing and when the head is getting a bit higher then the bed all the melted plastic is pushed out.

I think reclibratint the hotend will do the job.

[BenTheRighteous]

Yep I agree with duvdev, this looks like a bed leveling and z0 height issue.

[HoosierCruz]

ahh thanks! I am a Makerbot convert, and I always had to have that nozzle SUPER close to the plate for it to stick - so as you both guessed, the nozzle is pretty tight against the bed.

thanks again @dudev @BenTheRighteous

[Jimustanguitar]

Position your nozzle so that it lightly drags on a piece of copy paper. No need to make it as tight as you've got it.

After that, get everything level, and then check your horizontal radius...

Check out the manual for a detailed description of everything. Good luck! Glad you've come over to the light side of the force

[HoosierCruz]

Thanks @jimustanguitar - I backed the nozzle off the plate a little bit, turned the flow rate back up a tad and it works great now. However, I would like to continue fine tuning because the edges are a little messy when printing vertical angles.

[Earthbound]

Messy edges might be improved by a slightly lower temperature. What temps are you running now?

[Jimustanguitar]

I backed the nozzle off the plate a little bit, turned the flow rate back up a tad and it works great now.

Your flow rate should be something that you can calibrate and leave alone after you get it right. There are lots of settings to play with, but that's one that shouldn't require tweaking.

[RAMTechRob]

Also check your retract settings.

[lordbinky]

After fine tuning everything else, increasing jerk can also help on issues with corners (note: increasing it too high will cause other issues though). The other option is to decrease the print speed.