I’m making some interlocking pieces. Basically a rectangular box made from 6 panels with tabs around the edges. The overall measurement of the piece is .4mm bigger and all the tabs around the outside edges are .4mm wider. And the area between the tabs is about .3mm narrower.
I printed it using the “fast” print setting. If I print it using the fine setting can I expect better results? What should I do?
I do have Cura and smaller nozzles if that might help.
Hey @Thick8!
You could print a sample in the quality you like,- if something is bigger, scale the model down to your percentage.
Hope this helps!
Chris
In my testing, I’ve only seen dimensional inaccuracies in the Z axis. All of those are because the height wasn’t an integer multiple of the layer height (ie, trying to print 1.1 mm with a 0.2mm layer height is only going to be 1.0mm). This will actually show up in SnapmakerJS if you use the layer slider bar. You’ll see a small portion of the model sticking above the final layer. In that case, printing with a finer layer height would help. If your inaccuracy is in the X or Y, all my tests have been spot on. I don’t have digital calipers, but my ruler does have 0.5mm markings, so any error is well under 0.25mm.
Also, is the part too large in every location, or just the first layer? On my v1, the first layer squishes out, and the remaining layers are fine. For prints with fine tolerances, I clean that first layer up with a wood scraper. For example, I made a v1 bed cover, printed at High Quality. After the post-processing, it’s accurate enough that it mostly stays together from friction.
If that doesn’t help, did you design this, or is it a part you downloaded from Thingiverse?
I’ve found some models I download from Thingiverse don’t match the expected dimensions. I can only assume that the creator had some slight dimensional accuracy issues. In those cases, I usually have to slice using Cura. It will let me scale X, Y, and Z independently, and the models are usually only inaccurate in one or two dimensions.
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Hi and thank you.
These are parts I created using Fusion360 and printed with Cura. I found some settings to help with tighter tolerances and all is well on that front now; but I have a much worse issue that I am starting a new thread for.