Quality Calibration Assist

[lumpy_potato]

Hey all,

So after much adjustments, here's where I am at:

http://imgur.com/a/hNVI3

There are two primary issues I run into on prints:

1) Horizontal ridging. I'm assuming this is mechanical but I'm not sure where to look. Belts are fairly taut, I can pull about an inch and they are nice and taut. Should that be a bit more 'tight'? Carriages should be nicely set up, Tricklaster CF arms, can double check the spacers on the effector to make sure they are properly set up. This is actually an overall improvement, the ridging is far less than it used to be without the CF arms, but I'd like to see if I can get even more out of it. I have to put it in that light for it to even show up though, otherwise the surface finish seems quite nice.

2) The edge ridging. I'm thinking accel/jerk issue, possibly? Moves too fast at the sudden angle or something along those lines.

I'm using Slic3r w/ Rep Host. Speed is ~80 for infill, 45-60 for perimeters. I think I took ext. perims down to 40, but it didn't seem to make too much of a difference. SeeMeCNC PLA White @210, though I'm about to run out and Inland PLA/PETG is next on my list, so who knows how that will change things. .2mm layer height, .5mm nozzle, .5mm extrusion width.

Three layer fans, but they all kind of point too much at the hotend and force the temp to 205 or lower. I've added some duct tape and am working on a somewhat modified version of guanu's blower to point more 'down.' Maybe I've installed them wrong (the little white tab goes on top of the tabs on the effector right?), but whatevs. There are three of them and they for the most part work well (finished the maketest overhang model w/o an issue at least so thrilled with that)

Most other settings (accel) are all defaults. Extrusion steps per mm is what is in the build manual, nothing special there. I did try to calibrate but it seems like I'm getting a pretty consistent 100mm of filament out of the EZ Struder at any given time. Should probably look at it again (motors running @ 145 as per the build manual).

As far as I can tell everything is at a 90 degree angle to what it needs to be. Screws, bolts and the like should be nice and tight.

Any ideas? I mean as it is this is a huge improvement, I used to get dips about .5 to 1mm deep, now its all a nice smooth surface with some errant ridges here and there

Dimensionally thinks look alright. have to do a few more tests at a later date (catsitting and the damn creature is too attracted to the hotend for my comfort). The MakeTest xy resonance model was within .01 or .001 mm, so these delta arms are incredible and I'm super thrilled about them.

Thanks all

[Polygonhell]

The ridging could be mechanical, could also be slight over extrusion. The extruding 100mm when commanded is really just a starting point, Slicers approximate extrusion volume based on it and some handwavy guess at the extrusion shape. the only real way to get it right is to print a single wall piece and measure the actual wall thickness vs the expected based on the extrusion width setting in the slicer. There is a post on how I do it stickied in the Max V1 forum.

You can also try dropping print speed way down like 20mm/s across the board (except travel) and see what happens to the ridges, if they are greatly reduced, the first suspect should be mechanical.

White also tends to show any imperfection.

[lumpy_potato]

Good idea. Will have to look at extrusion again...hopefully thats it. I'm not printing for the next week or so, we are cat sitting and she's a bit too curious about the RoMax. Plus a heated bed is impossible for a cat to ignore.

[lumpy_potato]

Question for you Polygon (or anyone else)

Finally got everything dialed in more or less, and was checking to see how speed effected print quality. at <30mm, it definitely looks better. There is still some ridging, but it is far reduced. I need to do a bit more tweaking but I don't think the core of it is extrusion.

What is a good methodology for finding the source of mechanical issues? I just finished re-tightening belts, so I'm assuming the next step is tightening things down in general?