5
$\begingroup$

I printed a temperature calibration cuboid for Hatchbox 1.75 mm PLA, in 1 °C increments from 180 °C to 190 °C.

I have two questions related to this image:

Temperature calibration print

  • I'm not seeing any difference in quality across the temperature range. Am I just way off base and need to be substantially higher?
  • How do I get rid of the small layer shifts you can see across the board?

Printed on a RepRapGuru Prusa MK2 clone.

|improve this question|||||
$\endgroup$
  • $\begingroup$ Most slicers/printers use Celsius and not Fahrenheit for temps. If you are running things in F (Fahrenheit), you're running your temps way too low. You should be running PLA around 200 °C. At 180 °F, this is ~82 °C ... I'm betting you mean you are extruding at 180 °C ... still, this is pretty low, even for PLA. I'd suggest running your temps from 195 °C to 210 °C and checking the difference. $\endgroup$ – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Feb 10 '19 at 20:52
  • $\begingroup$ Woops. Yes, typo - C, not F. $\endgroup$ – kolosy Feb 10 '19 at 21:00
  • $\begingroup$ Even so, 180-190 is usually pretty low for print temps using PLA ... just a thought. $\endgroup$ – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Feb 10 '19 at 21:07
  • $\begingroup$ Fair. I was under the impression that you want to go as low as you can without extrusion issues. Is that not the case? And will this address the unevenness I'm seeing? $\endgroup$ – kolosy Feb 10 '19 at 21:14
  • $\begingroup$ Couldn't what you are seeing be considered extrusion issues? Try it, as what do you have to lose but a little time and filament. $\endgroup$ – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Feb 10 '19 at 21:19
3
$\begingroup$

Your print does not suffer from layer shifts as you call them. This uneven layer deposition is typically caused by the (positioning) accuracy of your printer. All-in-all, this print does not look so bad. You would get better quality prints on a different style of a printer; most high-end printers have a lowering platform instead of a forth and back moving platform.

Although 180 °C is at the low side of printing PLA (usually it starts at about 185 °C), the print does look okay. However, looks can deceive, it does not say anything about structural integrity (layer bonding).

Note, to calibrate the temperature using a temperature tower, you need a different calibration test print, preferably one that tests overhang. This latter is usually far more important as there is normally not much to see at the walls, you need a slanting part in the print or an overhang to determine the optimal temperature.

|improve this answer|||||
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.