1 Topic by pastprimitive

  • pastprimitive
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Topic: Single wall gap mystery...

So I have an XYZ Da Vinci 1.0. I've refreshed with the repetier firmware (glorious and wonderful difference in my opinion) Anyhow I am working on calibrating the firmware settings, getting the extrusion rates calibrated, retraction, etc... Even tried messing with my extrusion multiplier in slic3r..... to no avail. I am stumped.

When I try to print single wall prints... for whatever reason there is this weird gapping issue, my gcode is fine, double checked that. Double checked the still file to make sure it's not an issue, although the gcode would have shown that anyhow.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-tXLWNB0bAuk/VJR38R14P1I/AAAAAAAAA3A/ppeyBc1kUhU/w817-h610-no/IMG_3969.JPG

Tried everything from increasing/decreasing filament temperature, changing retraction settings to every different setting imaginable, even turning retraction off all together... still more or less the same result... What I am sort of curious at this point is if it's an issue with my acceleration settings on the extruder. Although I just left them whatever was default with the firmware I uploaded.  It was one of the three favorite flavors of repetier for da vinci, although I don't remember which.

I'll include my ee-prom settings, and a picture of the problem. 

Any help would be much appreciated:)

Thanks.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pUnftpXvFss/VJR4ewiKSzI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/5DO_iWnlU3Q/w497-h1187-no/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-12-19%2Bat%2B11.11.21%2BAM.png
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-A6CMxkYe8ps/VJR4e8GA5XI/AAAAAAAAA3M/IdMoTkXqMzs/w592-h686-no/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-12-19%2Bat%2B11.11.45%2BAM.png

2 Reply by pastprimitive (edited by pastprimitive 2014-12-19 20:24:23)

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Re: Single wall gap mystery...

So tried cutting my Extr. 1 acceleration [mm/s^2] to 2000, and ran the same print. HUGE improvement. So I am suspicious that 5000 was absurdly too high for the real world specs of the machine. I don't know about the theoretical because I haven't taken the time to do all the math etc... but the whole print overall seems much better.  So I am going to tweak around with the setting more and see what I find out.

You may notice the small gapping that is there is in a different spot.  That's been normal for each time I slice the file it switches between these two start points.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-VUEAVrWdrZA/VJSIjk052PI/AAAAAAAAA4E/ZjVTPW-zL1M/w817-h1094-no/IMG_3970.JPG

My theory is simply that the machine was being driven faster than the real world capacity of the extruder to to react. Thus it may have tried to accelerate at those rates, but filament was not able to be deposited as quickly as the gcode intended.

3 Reply by rockosmodlife

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Re: Single wall gap mystery...

Nice work! It's pioneers like you that will make my flash to repetier be much easier. I'm still on stock.

Repinci 1.0 + Repetier host

4 Reply by pastprimitive

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Re: Single wall gap mystery...

Your welcome.  And it's completely verified that I am getting MUCH MUCH better print quality with the setting above set to around 500.000 instead of 5000.000. 

There is a tendency when calibrating CNC machines for many to try and set their acceleration parameters to the highest possible theoretical ability of the motor, or as high as possible without obvious errors.

My experience has shown me that on any cnc machine, not just 3d printers, the machines almost always benefit from putting in a significantly much more conservative acceleration profile for the various motors.  Too much acceleration means that the gcode is going to try and drive your machine harder than it really should be going, although it can technically can go that fast..

Anyhow... I also discovered that XYZ filament SUCKS! I switched out to some random generic filament bought online, and my print quality also went through the roof again...

I've honestly been surprised at the low quality of prints I see people getting from their da vinci because in many respects it's got fantastic internals! Especially compared to my old solidoodle 3.  But now I am convinced it's an issue of poorly tuned firmware settings, and poor quality XYZ proprietary filament.

Good luck when you switch.

5 Reply by pastprimitive

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Re: Single wall gap mystery...

So final update in this threads saga.  Another discovery that's at least new to me is the proprietary filament that comes with the XYZ is terrible terrible terrible.  Like mentioned above.  But I need to do a side by side comparison showing the exact horrific nature of XYZ's filament compared to some standard generic cheap filament purchased from an eBay supplier in Florida. 

Notice the side wall quality especially, but also even the top surface finish is much superior. Now i have lots of scalping because I purposely set the extrusion multiplier to higher than normal to help with the single wall adhesion on these cookie cutters. Also to increase thickness with out putting down multiple lines. 

Anyhow it's really night and day.  Less bubbling, smoother finishes, equal adhesion, if not better. Blue is the XYZ filament that came with the machine. Yellow is the good cheap filament. Also these were both printed with the EXACT same settings across the board.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sYykEasSu84/VJSmYG8USiI/AAAAAAAAA4o/WmfMeTBHMAk/w817-h610-no/IMG_3971.JPG

6 Reply by rockosmodlife

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Re: Single wall gap mystery...

Yeah I really need to make the switch. That change in quality is quite large!

Repinci 1.0 + Repetier host