How Do I Calibrate My Titan Extruder and Test Print?
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The extrusion width will depend on other factors too, in particular the height of the nozzle above the bed. Don't try to print with the extrusion width equal to the nozzle width, it's not practical because of filament swell as it leaves the nozzle. Most slicers default to extrusion width about 25% greater than nozzle size, e.g. 0.5mm using a 0.4mm nozzle.
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The heater keeps shooting well over 15c hotter than specified, even though the sensor is sitting in the hotend and reading the temperature.
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Have you run auto tuning on the extruder heater yet?
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I did a M303 and it said that it wasn't tuned.
I then went and did a M307 H0, and took the results and updated the heater details in the config.g.
It's currently printing just fine, so I'll wait and see what happens…
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The extrusion width will depend on other factors too, in particular the height of the nozzle above the bed. Don't try to print with the extrusion width equal to the nozzle width, it's not practical because of filament swell as it leaves the nozzle. Most slicers default to extrusion width about 25% greater than nozzle size, e.g. 0.5mm using a 0.4mm nozzle.
Thanks David, i'm aware of this but im wondering myself why there shozld be a difference (which is really great) only in changing the E3dv6 with a 0.4mm Nozzle against the Volcano with a 0.4mm Nozzle. Same Printer, same Filament, same Parameters. Autotuned Heater which is overshooting arounf 1.2C max.
And with this Layer-Width set to the same size as the nozzlemy prints with the normal E3Dv6 looks realy awesome.
And okay with 20% or 25% more for the Slicer (that's defaults to 0,48mm Width in Simplify3d) i could live with but my extrusion (if set to 1.0) will around 0.68mm which is more than 50%.
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It finally finished a print, test cube.
It's almost perfectly symmetric at 20mm.
The only thing that needs calibrating now is whatever it takes to get the print quality improved. There's a slight wobble on the sides, and the corners are inconsistent and have a rough ridge.
Is there a wiki process for improving cornering and stepper consistency?
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My best guess would be that with the longer melt chamber and printing as you are at very low speeds, if you are using PLA, it will start to hydrolyse and become less and less viscous (more runny) which would explain why it appears to be over extruding with the Volcano compared to the standard V6.
I don't know why you are having problems at higher speeds but it sounds like heat creep causing the filament to swell or you are using too much retraction, but if you can fix that so that you can print at "normal" speeds - say 60mm\sec upwards (or faster with a smaller nozzle) then it may well fix the the extrusion amount issue. The other thing that you can try is lowering the temperature. Because of the increased surface area of the melt chamber, then for a given speed, you ought to be able to print at much lower temperatures than you are used to with the standard V6. Try 190 or even 180 for PLA. Another thing you could try, which would prove my theory one way or another is to print with PETG. This is much more stable from a viscosity point of view when left at print temperature for prolonged periods.
I don't have a V6 or Volcano so the above are just some random thoughts.
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Thanks deckingman, i'm suing with my Bowden-Setup (around 55-60cm) between 0.60 and 1.60mm of Retraction.
I'm trying to print witrh PLA+ and ABS too, my PETG-Spools are empty
In regards to the Temperature i'll try to lower it and get back.
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Nope, it needs the opposite way instead of dropping the Temperatures down i'm now at 60mm/s at 220°C. I'm more and more pointing to the Heater-Cartridge from E3D Volcano. It's the 12V Version with Blue Cables. I've not meassured the Resistance but even with reaching the correct temps, i'll try to put one of my 12V / 40W Heater-Cartridges in and do an Autotune.
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Update: Have changed the Nozzle back to 0.8mm, set the Extrusion-Multiplier to 0.77 (after calibration) to get the "opimal" 0.96mm Layer-Width for a 0.8mm Nozzle, set Temperature to 215°C and print Speed to 40mm/s
That seems to fit, no underextrustion anymore. Anyhow i will bake mal PLA-Spool at 85°C for 3 Hours in an Oven to get any kind of moisture out of it.
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Where is the config for retraction settings, and what's the basic science behind over/under/tuned retraction?
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Where is the config for retraction settings, and what's the basic science behind over/under/tuned retraction?
If you use "normal" retraction, then that is done in the slicer. If you use firmware retraction then the parameters are set using M207 in config.g but you must "tell" the slicer to use firmware retraction so that it will put the relevant G10 / G11 commands into the gcode file.
The basic science of retraction is that FDM printers are essentially hot melt glue guns - albeit accurately positioned. At the end of a print move, there is a blob of filament at the nozzle tip so when you do a non-print move, that blog will either be left behind or pulled into a string. Filament can also ooze of it's own volition due to pressure in the nozzle after a print move making that blob bigger. The idea of retracting filament is to pull that blob back up into the nozzle at the end of a print move and before a non-print move. Retraction should be set to the minimum that is required to alleviate leaving any blobs on the print and prevent stringing. Too much retraction can lead to under extrusion at the start of the next print move due to the amount of filament that needs to be "unretracted", excessive wear of the filament as it passes over the hobbed bolt in the extruder and in extreme circumstances, can lead to molten filament being drawn up inside the heat break where it will solidify and cause a blockage.
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The basic science of retraction is that FDM printers are essentially hot melt glue guns - albeit accurately positioned. At the end of a print move, there is a blob of filament at the nozzle tip so when you do a non-print move, that blog will either be left behind or pulled into a string. Filament can also ooze of it's own volition due to pressure in the nozzle after a print move making that blob bigger. The idea of retracting filament is to pull that blob back up into the nozzle at the end of a print move and before a non-print move. Retraction should be set to the minimum that is required to alleviate leaving any blobs on the print and prevent stringing. Too much retraction can lead to under extrusion at the start of the next print move due to the amount of filament that needs to be "unretracted", excessive wear of the filament as it passes over the hobbed bolt in the extruder and in extreme circumstances, can lead to molten filament being drawn up inside the heat break where it will solidify and cause a blockage.
Well said, and well understood. Thanks for that breakdown. It makes more sense, particularly having the nozzle block up twice on a couple of small prints. There's a lot of blobbing and stringing when the nozzle heats up.
I used to have a nozzle fan on, which cooled any oozing filament prior to print, and blew it off and to the corner of the bed. Fancy. I should fix the retraction settings though. I'm quite happy to do it in the slicer at this stage, seeing that it's a consistently used process with print iterations.
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Mhh, after testing and testing i'm now using the German RepRap X1000 PLA-Profile for SimpliFy3D which can be downloaded at Germam Reprap. This Profile is available for PLA / PETG and also for Dual-Nozzle and uses the 0.8mm Nozzle.
That Settings seems to fit to my machine almost perfectly.
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…................ There's a lot of blobbing and stringing when the nozzle heats up..................
Yes that's normal too. When you first start heating the hot end, it's full of cold solid filament. When it gets heated, it expands and has to have somewhere to go so it oozes out of the nozzle tip. Some hot ends suffer more than others and my theory is that it is proportional to the volume of the melt chamber. My Diamond hot ends ooze a lot when first heated which I believe is down to the fact that they have 3 or 5 largish melt chambers. My start gcode moves the head to the very front of the bed so that I can get hold of the oozing filament with a pair of needle nosed pliers just prior to the first move. I'm in the process of doing a redesign so that the nozzle will be clear of the bed with a "bucket" under it and a strip of silicone rubber that will wipe the nozzle when it moves to the first print position.
Edit. Most people use the slicer to do the retraction. The only real advantage of using firmware retraction is if you have a mixing hot end and need to retract multiple filaments simultaneously. Depending on your slicer, firmware retraction may give you a bit more control like being able to unretract a different amount to the retract, and at a different speed.
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Another advantage of firmware retraction is that you can experiment with different retraction settings during a single test print.
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Another advantage of firmware retraction is that you can experiment with different retraction settings during a single test print.
Good point - and it's very useful too.
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By default, it looks like Cura was retracting at 6.5mm, which appeared to be a lot when watching it work.
The filament is drying and blocking the nozzle, or the extruder isn't quite returning the filament to the previous position to continue extruding consistently, and the nozzle cooks the small amount of filament left.
I'm going to shorten the retraction to 1.5mm, and see how that goes. The E3D kit has shipped today, which should be here later in the week I guess, or next. I don't trust this clone.
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The E3D Volcano kit has been installed this week and operates beautifully. The quality is so much better than the close, as expected when you pay $190 more for what appears very much the same thing.
It still ended up jamming, and in the exact same place. So weird. I spoke to the guys on the official forum, and someone suggested that it may happen if there's no PTFE liner in the heatsink, or if the heatsink fan isn't working properly. Turns out that my fan had stopped working, and I have no idea why, so I swapped it out with a cheapo and that one works. It's currently printing.
The cooling issue doesn't make sense to me at all, but that aside I have another problem, yet again, and I can't figure it out. The problem I have now is a shifting print; as in the printer shifts on the X and Y a little as it's going up, giving me a slightly sloped print.
I replaced the factory X and Y belts with reinforced belts, which have teeth anyway, but have been optimally tightened. The bed is also tight. It's supported by tightened spring and a glass top that's taped down and levelled manually. So there's zero permanent movement in the belt and bed.
The only other thing I can think of is stepper current inconsistency, but my steppers are well under the upper limits of the drivers. I haven't done any tuning in the area of steppers, etc, so maybe that's a thing I have to do, of which I have no understand at present.
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I've fixed a working fan to the heatsink and had better luck with the printer working consistently.
The quality of the print is still shaky, showing waves in the walls along the Y direction. Just had a look at the extrusion calibration again, and found that it's only extruding 80% of a measured amount. I removed the hotend and did the test again and found the filament was moving through at 110% of the 100mm length.
Adjusting the extrusion setting, it comes to E390 at 101%. The issue is that putting the hotend back on will mean it will still fall short 20% of the extrusion, because while the extruder can correctly measure the distance, it can't force the same amount of filament through the hotend in that time.
I guess this means I have to adjust the speed of the extrusion, or something in the movement section. Has anyone been through this process before? I have a feeling it's not as simple as reducing the maximum speed by 20%, or is it?
