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Hello All-

I've beed doing some 'torture tests' with PLA in the interest of improving print quality after installing trick laser arms and an e3dv6. I'd like to minimize the blobbing or warts, the stringing, and the inconsistent layer lines seen in the photo below lit chiaroscuro to exaggerate imperfections:
the print on the top represents my first attempt (after making the e3d and PLA play nice), using these settings: The print on the bottom, after going through a number of iterations, is the result of these settings: If anything stringing has gotten worse, blobbing has too albeit incrementally. Layer line variance is the same. Stringing may be a result of coast setting? I think for the next print I'll turn that off, and also add a little extra restart distance. I'd be curious about what you guys have to say. Should I ditch the torture test and just start with a 20 mm calibration cube?

What is the effective difference on print quality between filament diameter, extrusion multiplier, and extrusion width? Or are they all just different means to the same end? i.e. mm/s of filament. After measuring the filament in 10 places with calipers and averaging to arrive at filament diameter I then started to tweak the other numbers because I felt that the inconsistent layer lines were a result of over extrusion. And that the blobs are to some extent a result of too much back pressure in the nozzle. Both of these problems being somewhat related...



-Rev

Looks like a decent starting place.

The parts look puffy and full, so I'd suspect that overextrusion is a big part of what you're trying to track down. Measure out and mark several 10cm sections (I always use a whole meter of filament), heat up the extruder, and feed it with the manual controls to see how close your actual extrusion length is. You might have to change your steps per mm. Also check the exact filament diameter with calipers and enter that into the slicer as well.

You might post on the Simplify3D forum since that is the slicer you are using. I agree with Jim though, it looks like you are overextruding. The place to start is to calibrate your extruder rather than put on a software bandaid. It's easy so do that first.

Next is, you don't show extrusion temperature at all. This has a big effect on stringing and blobbing too. The various parameters all work hand in hand so if you "fix" something in one place, it might expose problems in another. If you want to do it right and really get a good handle on it, read and practice the points in my signature links. Start with the simple and work to the more complex. The single layer object will show unequivocally of you have an over extrusion problem for instance.

Thanks for the input, guys. @Jimustanguitar I will try the extrusion test. I've done the filament diameter, that is already a part of my basic workflow. But an accurate extrusion length test is predicated on accurate filament diameter I would imagine. @mhackney yes, good point re: S3D forum, most of the issues I raise are software related, not hardware related. But as you guys are pointing out it looks like I have some basic hardware issues I need to look at before getting into the slicer parameter tweaking game.

re: temp- I lowered my temp to 190 initially before I started these tests, and raised it up just until it got shiny..right now its at 207... I suppose I should test it to get an actual temp... more updates coming soon, thanks guys, -rev