Hello Makers.
I have been having a lot of failed prints lately. I found that it is because I started printing humanoid/animal stuff.
There is a problem specifically when there is an object that is increasing its size as it goes up, i.e. legs.
If it’s a rounded surface, it will curl at the start/stop point. If its square/rectangular it will curl at all corners. And after a few layers the hotend will hit the curl and it’s game over (specially if the layer is small).
I have read a lot, and tested a lot. Some ppl said to test higher width (which Luban cannot seem to do). I tested 0.8 (cura) and didn’t help at all. Others suggest lowering speed, but I cannot do that for a big print that has only a few small details.
Also tried some temperature and retractions setting, to no avail. Some people discuss about cooling and physical properties…but it seems that the movement the head is doing when it finish printing the layer is helping with this damn problem.
I even made a simple STL (~15 minutes print @0.2mm) that will quickly reveal the problem.
The one thing I could not test is to dry the filament, but I did try with a new filament out of the box.
So, if you think you have printer perfectly working and want to help, could give the model a try.
After my last round of testing today, finally could print it but only at 0.1mm and using z-hop (1mm).
retractions 1mm@25mm/s and 2mm@40mm/s both worked. It introduced some stringing tho.
What type of filament are you using, and what temperature is the nozzle set to? It looks to me like slumping due to the filament being too hot. Have you seen any difference with different types of filament?
It’s PLA ‘Grilon3’ (Local brand) I tried 185, 195, and 205c.
I have tried other colors, but not other type (PETG), since I’m not interested in printing with PETG.
To be fair, I’m also posting the 2 tests that succeeded. But I think it only worked because I have 2 objects and z-hop helped. Also, only 0.1h worked, 0.2h failed
I found another interesting option to help with this.
It’s called ‘Z Seam Alignment’. It makes each layer not start on the same spot. Starting at the same spot seems to aggravate the curl problems on my printer.
I get a tiny artifact at layer start that becomes more visible, but it’s a lot better than a failed print.
Also, I tried lowering the filament temperature, but was actually worse! (tried 185).
I set the temperature to 205°C, put an external fan as brent suggested, and carefully configured support. That was the only way I could print a complex part with overhang.
