Go to for the group assignment page
Weekly assignment → Test Printer → design as object → Print object → Scan object → print scanned object (optional)
While on the 3D printer test model's page I downloaded the design and took note of all the parameters it intends to test such as:
Bellow is the 3D print test model:
The author also supplies an image for reference when checking the print
Now this sub-class of the Print settings is infill. One can save a lot of time and money here. Someone once said they are both the same, frankly I rather own the first than the second: The infill I have is 20% I am not a cheap bastard, I believe 20% is enough after all the ephemeral pieces this printer expels rarely are worth to use all this corn, ah did I mention I am using PLA a derivate of corn, of course not thats later in filaments... So for now believe me 20% is enough for almost all prints. If you need to tow a truck go crazy use 100% if in the other hand you want to make a delicate vase 0% will leave you a hollow print.
On this subsection of Print settings, the famous Skirt and Brim, the savvy fabber can use Brim instead of the ridiculous and wasteful rafts done by those who won't take time to level and calibrate their printers. Well by using a wide brim you make sure your print won't detach from the bed. Brim basically are lines next to each other and attached to the print, its great for a spiky model's base, or just corners that want to take off from the print bed "warping". The skirt is used to kind of clean ones noose I mean nozzle yes the printer nozzle, the part that the filament gets out from. This setting will extrude a line around the model to be printed specially useful when filament promiscuity is the case so when changing colors or filament types be sure to either extrude in the air or add some skirt before your print.
The subclass of Support material I leave for the people who won't challenge their machines for the ones who don't care to calibrate and level.
Starting with Support material you use this for overhangs. Support builds under your model in the places where the negative slope is to steep in other to prevent real birds nest by free forming under your nose I mean nozzle.
Raft, how I hate rafts I don't want to even talk about haft, I wonder how much popcorn has been erased from the universe by the usage of raft! Well like the name implies none want to be on, or use a raft. Its for emergencies and should be kept only for that. It creates a waste of material that will compensate poorly the lack of leveling, its for the lazy but in the end promotes more work as the under side of the print will not ever be as smooth as the printed part that was printed directly on glass. Support also does that. Try printing with support and then spend the next hours post processing your prints, super fun stuff.
The class of filament settings deserves not much time as they are straight forward, if your filament supplier cares about you, he will give you the temperature in which to print in a label in the sides of the box or spool. The diameter is and has always been with me 1.75mm, the thinner diameter is easier to push than 3mm the other standard in filament thickness after all we are pushing filament through a nozzle with 0.4 mm in diameter thats thin so choosing a printer that takes a thin filament is better!
Here in printer settings we find nozzle size, I use 0.4 mm; -next my preferred setting on this tests, well practically the only one I messed with is the "retraction".
As being the designer, engineer and technician of my printers its little what I haven't tried before.
The retraction, yes, the retraction will depend on many factors: -too much retraction and the filament can get stuck in the nozzle guaranteeing one a lot of fun fixing/disassembling a nozzle that the filament froze in higher levels. It's always fun for geeks like me to fix that, NOOOT! Too little retraction and you will have spider web all around your towers. So This is a setting that needs to be tested and tested, until like many other settings. Do trial and error until mastered to what resembles perfection, if that even exists in FDM of course.
Click here for the process of slicing and creating the file with the g-code to print.
Parameter | Results | ||
---|---|---|---|
Mini | Delta | ||
1 | Nut, Size M4 Nut should fit perfectly | Yes | No |
2 | Wave, rounded print | Yes | Yes |
3 | Star, Sharp Edges | Yes | Yes |
4 | Name, Complex Shapes | Yes | Yes |
5 | Holes, Size 3, 4, 5 mm | 2.9, 3.9, 4.9 | 3, 4, 5 mm oval |
6 | minimal Distance: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7 mm | 0.1mm not good | 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 not good scale wrong 6.5mm instead of 7mm |
7 | Z height: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, 1.1 mm | 0.1mm printed with 0.2 and 1.1 with 1 | Yes |
8 | Wall Thickness: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7 mm | didn't print 0.1, 0.2 next walls printed as 0.5 until last as 1mm | Yes |
9 | Bridge Print: 2, 4, 8, 16 mm | Printed as 2.85, 3.9, 7.9, 15.8 | Yes |
10 | Sphere, Rounded Print 4.8mm height | 5.1 | Yes |
11 | Sphere Mix, 7 mm height | 7.15 | Yes |
12 | pyramid, 7 mm height | 6.95 | Yes |
13 | Overhang: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70° | Yes | Yes |
14 | Warp, does it bend? | no | Yes |
15 | 3D Print Font, optimized for 3D printing | Yes | Yes |
16 | Surface, Flatness | a bit rough | Yes |
17 | Size, 100 x 100mm x 23.83 (10mm width) | 99.45 x 99.8 x 23.2 (10.2 with) | Yes |
18 | Spike, minimum Layer Time, 21 mm height from Bottom (include Baseplate) | 15mm | Yes |
19 | Hole in Wall, 4 mm diameter, check for proper print | Yes | Yes |
20 | Raft Test, raft should be just under the model | didn't test | Yes |
21 | Retract Travel, check retract settings for longer travel | almost no oozing | Yes |
Conclusion | For a FDM printer I believe the result is very good. The sizes differences are probably due to a PLA shrinkage |
This design is either to hard or even impossible to do with subtractive technique due to its shape and details inaccessible to a 2 axis CNC or even to a 3 axis.
The result!
The G-code Generated can be downloaded with the link above but I extracted here the beginning of it in other to show a few of its statistics.
; generated by Slic3r 1.3.1-dev on 2020-05-31 at 20:04:21
; external perimeters extrusion width = 0.44mm (3.38mm^3/s)
; perimeters extrusion width = 0.48mm (7.54mm^3/s)
; infill extrusion width = 0.48mm (10.05mm^3/s)
; solid infill extrusion width = 0.48mm (2.51mm^3/s)
; top infill extrusion width = 0.48mm (1.88mm^3/s)
; support material extrusion width = 0.44mm (6.76mm^3/s)