Hello
I’ve been printing with my new Flashforge Creator Pro 2017 edition for the past few months and continue to run into a frustrating print surface quality issue.
First, here’s the setup:
- Using Fresh Esun black ABS (have also tried Hatchbox and Sainsmart black ABS with similar results)
- Printing with Stock hot end, but have also tried upgrading to microswiss all metal hot end with same results.
- Printing at 230C, 95C bed (glass bed with PEI sheet)
- Printing at 60mm/sec, but have the same issues at 40mm/sec
- Using Simplify3D to slice, at medium settings (2 perimeter layers, 15% infill)
The problem:
I continue to see small gaps in the outer surface layers, especially around sharp corners. These get worse when printing faster, but won’t go away no matter how slow I print. It seems like a filament starving issue, but upping the temperature doesn’t see to fix it, nor does switching to an all metal hot end. If you anyone has a better idea of what causes this, please let me know!
Thank You!
What is the extrusion multiplier set to?
First, I assume you are using the FFCP profile in S3D?
Can you tell if this is at the beginning or the end of a pass?
I would start with the defaults for ABS and set the temp to 230 which I think is default.
Print at around 1800 - 2000mm/min.
Set the start points to the middle option which I think is optimize for faster printing. I have found an issue if I use the bottom one.
I have had similar issues and it is a pain.
Like @tabbott, I’d say that if you’re seeing what looks like a lack of filament, I’d be looking primarily at the settings that control filament flow, and the filament itself. The extrusion rate is one, although personally (on the 2016 model, I’m not sure what’s changed for 2017) I’ve never had to use anything other than 100%. What’s your “Coast at end” setting? Retraction setting? Extra restart distance?
For the filament, if you’ve got some good calipers, check that it’s actually 1.75mm. If it’s not that thickness, you’ll need to tell Simplify3D.
Thank you for the responses!
I have attached screenshots of my S3D settings, along with a photo of another part with similar issues.
I believe the issue is happening near start points (check out the screen capture labeled start points). I’m usually running the hot end at 230C, but have tried bumping it up to 233C. This just adds some strings without really solving the problem.
@Wirlybird - I have been using the “Choose start point closest to specific location” and setting it to X:0, Y:0 in order to reduce the spread of zits on the outer surface. The sliced model I show in my screenshot was made using this setting. If that’s contributing to this problem I’ll try changing it back to “Optimize start point for fastest printing speed”.
@tabbott - It’s set to 1.0
I measure my filament diameter often, and it’s very close to 1.75mm. (varies between 1.73 and 1.75).
Thank you for any advice you can give!
Sincerely,
Tyson
Retraction at 1.2 and about 1800mm/min.
Turn of coast.
Default speed about 2000mm/min.
Turn off force retraction between layers.
Layer height ok but I always use .2 to get things working correctly.
Go back to Optimize start point for fastest printing speed.
If you watch the extruder closely with it set to Choose start point closest to specific location, you may find that the problem exists where it make a big travel move then starts a new extrusion. You may be able to see it lay down the spotty extrusion for a bit before it gets going ok. This is what I found.
Once I got it to stop that behavior then I added coast or wipe and fiddle with retraction a bit to reduce the zits.
Then you could change back to Choose start point closest to specific location and can start to add some restart distance to see how that helps.
I think you will find though that this issue is going to persist when using that one setting.
This seems like a retraction issue to me. I played around with the coast at end setting, turn it off. Also it seems like you are pulling the filament too far back for each retraction and feeding it too fast I think. try 30mm/s rate and 1.4mm for retraction. Also un-check all the settings you have under “advanced” “ooze control” try that.
Also, You might want to leave the extrusion width to auto.
