The Importance of Calibration

Well, I have seen a lot of things on here about calibrating your machine and the like, and I worry that somebody might buy a SD and figure they don't need calibration because it's "ready to print" out of the box. I figured I would post some pictures to show exactly how much difference maybe an hour of calibration can make in a print.

The print used is http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12146 , the hollow version. Print is .2mm layer height and .20 infill. Speeds and feeds are otherwise stock.

For the first totoro, the only changes to be made was calibrating the X&Y resolutions by doing test prints and measuring.

For the second totoro, the extruder feed rate was measured and adjusted in firmware.

For the third totoro, the trimpot on the printrboard for the extruder was adjusted until I could just barely hear the steps of the extruder moving, but it would still feed without trouble. Additionally, a well nut was added to the Z axis for a little backlash insurance.

I still have a way to go before I have it exactly the way I want (notably, now that I've adjusted the extruder I am having some problems with gaps), but just a little time calibrating can make a huge difference to the quality of your print, especially changing the feed rate on the extruder. Mine was off a full 29% from the factory.

Edit: And yes, I know I need to moisturize.