I suspect many experienced users already know this. As a newbie, experience is teaching me, which I will share with other newbies.
In using the Snapmaker supplied filament all went well with the most of the standard print settings in Snapmaker3D. I purchased a number of small 200gm filament reels locally from a reputable store to test them before buying larger reels.
I used a red coloured PLA and it printed the small picture easel project with success using standard settings with Raft and Touch Buildplate Support. I tried their white PLA to print the same project, same settings and the result was a fragile easel that easily snapped in a few places; see foreground of photo.
This was my chance to play with a few values in the custom setup. See highlighted values below; reprinted the easel which you can see standing in the photo above. It came out far more robust and did not snap as easily… yes I applied some force to test it. So slowing the print speed and raising the temperature helped… I have so much more to learn.
Did you print this broken one standing as they are?
Can’t say for sure for the other ones.
Layer orientation is very important for functional parts.
Also printing time in X and Y is much shorter than in Z.
Retry rotating the models so the flat side matches the build plate.
Thank you for the great advice, much appreciated. All three were printed on the Snapmaker. I printed the project as supplied because of its inbuilt hinge, which actually works well. I understand your comment about flat sides matching the build plate as that would add to the strength. I will try this for the experience and see if the hinge works OK.
I was confused by your reference “Also printing time in X and Y is much shorter than in Z”, which labels on the Custom Setting correlate to X, Y and Z?
I now have some reservations about the quality of the white PLA filament being used. The above problems were incurred with a filament sourced locally. I tried using it with some previous successful projects that used the Snapmaker supplied PLA filament and I incurred problems with it. I have another roll of Snapmaker filament (red one) which i am now trying on this project.
The red easel photo above was with a local filament and is OK.
So, as I say “Not all filaments are the same”. This is all good learning.
No. You will see what I mean if you rotate the model in the slicer and create a preview.
In X any Y you are printing 0,4 mm wide, while the height (Z) is always the layer height and this is much lower than 0,4 mm.
Should be much faster. Not all models are good designed but you should print the best orientation possible. This is an important lesson (as it was for me).
Some prints have to be made standing tall but for other reasons.
I have just loaded up a reel of ColorFabb Co-Polyester AMPHORA NGEN filament (white colour) and started a 7 hour lithophane print. I will let you know how this filament performs. I have set bed temperature at 60c and print at 205c. I have used RAFT to start it and so far it is laying down perfectly.
Have a great day
Doug
UPDATE: lithophane fell down overnight during print and made a birds-nest mess. My fault for not having a large enough base. Now printing a smaller object to see how it performs.
First comments on using ColorFabb Amphora is that it is more brittle that the Snapmaker or MakerBot PLA filaments and the finish was not a clean. After checking I realised the temperatures were too low for this filament. I will increase the heat settings and see if I can improve the prints.
Good luck @Doug! I’ve just unwrapped my 3D Fillies PETG and am about to do a temperature tower…
I’ve had very good results with the 3D Fillies PLA+. I find it needs a high temperature and have been getting good results at 210 degrees for the extruder and 60 degrees for the bed (65 for the first layer). I am having zero adhesion issues with the PLA now that I clean the bed before every print with alcohol and calibrate regularly. In fave, I have bent my Snapmaker pallete knife trying to get my prints off!
I read that PETG is difficult so I am about to enter a world of possible frustration…
Hi @doug, I’ve just read through this thread. I agree with your assessment of the Snapmaker PLA white - it seems very brittle. Anything I’ve made which has a bit of stress on it has broken.
I’ve had much better luck with the 3D Fillies stuff and I suspect we might have got a bad batch from Snapmaker.
My temperature tower of PETG is currently printing well. A bit of stringing at 250 degrees and I expect problems to occur once the extrude temperature drops below 210 degrees. The temperature tower goes down (up?) to 180 but I’ll probably have to stop the print before then.
One of the factors which seems to have improved my prints is the slicing software - I’ve started using Simplify 3D and it really seems to make a difference - especially with the infill and some of the smart thinking around slowing down the print for short paths etc. I’ve been able to raise the print speed to 100 mm/s without any noticeable problems but I’ve been keeping the first layer to 20 mm/s and sometimes even 10 mm/s for small items.
It’s quite a journey!
I have not found the Snapmaker PLA too brittle, I did with the ColorFabb
Also the biggest lesson I am learning, is the orientation of the object. e.g. imagine a pencil, you can print it in a vertical or horizontal position. The vertical print is lots of of short/narrow layers, wheres printing it in a horizontal place is less layers and they are the length of pencil and make it stronger. Also temperatures and print speeds alter the build quality which can make the object stronger or more brittle.
One of these days I will learn all this stuff hahaha!
I am still at the crawling stage and hoping to walk (totter) soon.
@Doug. Your comment about the Snapmaker PLA got me thinking. My problems with brittleness were when I was printing at a lower temperature. I have had good results with some PLA so far printing at the high end of the temperature range. I will do a reprint with the Snapmaker white, and might do a temperature tower as well.
Hi @doug. I’m using Simplify 3D. I found a script which you paste in the ‘script’ area of Simplify 3D which does the temperature changes to match the numbers and levels on the tower. This works with a layer height of 0.2 mm. If you change that you would need to adjust the number of layers to match (2 mm first step then 7 mm each succeeding step it looks like). The model is Better Temperature Tower v5 240-180 (Thingiverse 2318636). The script goes in the "Scripts - Post Processing’ box and is:
