X= 60.22 Y=59.99 Z=60.01 so mine seems to be spot on and it was sliced in S3D.

Shrinkage is proportional to the size of the object - 0.5-1% shrinkage on x/y linear dimensions is reasonable for ABS. Bottom layers tend to shrink less because of the heated bed. Z tends to be more accurate, because of the layers all being started at the right height, and the underlying print being already relatively cool. As Carl says, it depends on the specific material and moisture content, so best to measure.

Note that fixed errors (like extrusion width, artifacts like corner bulges, and mechanical hysteresis in the axes) usually overpower shrinkage, particularly for small objects.

You can correct for this in your model by trial and error, but don't expect the correction for one part of an object to be necessarily applicable elsewhere (so don't touch your steps-per-mm!!).

Internal holes are easy to fix by drilling them to size afterwards - it's handy that they always come out smaller than nominal thanks to the way the extrusion behaves.

In the end, designing allowances for dimensional error of at least +/-0.2mm for home-FFF printed parts is a good idea. E.g. oversize sockets by 0.5mm. If this ends up too loose, or you need to guarantee a good fit, then you'll usually need to post-process (i.e. file and sand!).

Carl - I'm curious to know what that CTC of yours prints a 60mm square at, compared to the 20mm square. Otherwise, it sounds like impressive results. Congrats!

I will have to slice one and export it to the SDcard. Right now the printer is being antisocial with any and all host software even though windows can see and identify it. I may have to RMA the motherboard. The eBay company simply told me to print from the card all the time since it works..

The issue is I want to upgrade to sailfish and need to be able to read eeprom settings before doing so. For that I need ReplicatorG to be able to talk to it.

But Ill slice a 60 or maybe a 50 with bore holes I made for shrinkage testing from the card.

Note that fixed errors (like extrusion width, artifacts like corner bulges, and mechanical hysteresis in the axes) usually overpower shrinkage, particularly for small objects.

You can correct for this in your model by trial and error, but don't expect the correction for one part of an object to be necessarily applicable elsewhere (so don't touch your steps-per-mm!!).

Internal holes are easy to fix by drilling them to size afterwards - it's handy that they always come out smaller than nominal thanks to the way the extrusion behaves.

In the end, designing allowances for dimensional error of at least +/-0.2mm for home-FFF printed parts is a good idea. E.g. oversize sockets by 0.5mm. If this ends up too loose, or you need to guarantee a good fit, then you'll usually need to post-process (i.e. file and sand!).

Carl - I'm curious to know what that CTC of yours prints a 60mm square at, compared to the 20mm square. Otherwise, it sounds like impressive results. Congrats!

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum and the whole 3d printing world.

So far, I'm happy with my printer, and my only peeve is when I print a square cube or  block, there's a .3mm difference between x and y.  Z is perfect.  Is there a way that I can fix this?

I also read that there's a firmware called Sailfish that I can update to, but I'm scared that I might screw everything up and the printer might now work properly. 

Can you guys give me some advice, please.   

Thanks

Edit.  Sorry guys, I don't know what happened.  I only posted once but I can see there's 3 post. A bad.  I will try to delete.

If you are new to printing keep in mind that there is shrinkage with this type of material. When you design something you have to increase all dimensions by .2 to .5mm depending on the material and its quality. I use a cube I designed that is 30mm x 30mm x 30mm with a 10mm vertical bore. When I load new filament I alwaysprint this cube to get an idea of the shrinkage factor so I can adjust my design dimensions accordingly.

I have  CTC dual I just bought and my first print with no adjusting other than bed level and nozzle alignments was a 20mm calibration cube and it came out 20.01mm on the Y, 19.92 on the X, and 20.00 on the Z.

I'm gonna check the backlash, but I don't think it's it.  The belts are all tight and I can't feel any play.

I was hoping that the extrusion multiplier would help, but I don't think it will.

I guess I'll try to search on how to adjust the steps in mm.

As for test prints, I have Autocad so I can create my own test prints objects, and that's how I was able to confirm the inaccurate dimensions because I created the test prints myself in autodesk.

I print a square cube or  block, there's a .3mm difference between x and y

a couple things can cause this. the first thing to look at is backlack ie loose belt. the other adjustment is steps per mm in the software.

somewhere around here is a circle test pattern  . and there are many test prints on the net. I suggest you print a series of circles or squares or concentric patterns. so say to print the concentric circles and you still get the .3 difference on all circle then you have a backlash problem . if you print a 100mm circle and you have a 1.2 mm difference adjust the steps per mm.

I have not used or relicator g or saltfish  so will leave comments on that to someone who knows  the Makerbot clones.
Tin

So far, I'm happy with my printer, and my only peeve is when I print a square cube or  block, there's a .3mm difference between x and y.  Z is perfect.  Is there a way that I can fix this?

I also read that there's a firmware called Sailfish that I can update to, but I'm scared that I might screw everything up and the printer might now work properly. 

Can you guys give me some advice, please.   

Thanks

Edit.  Sorry guys, I don't know what happened.  I only posted once but I can see there's 3 post. A bad.  I will try to delete.