I’ve used my M3D printer for a little over a year now mostly just for small prints and it worked great. I have a fascination with 3D modeling and it’s awesome to see a small replication of my digital models. But lately I have switched filaments to try something new and my prints have been coming out stringy and not really finishing out the tops of my prints right because of the stringy prints. I’m not sure if it is just the filament change or not but if anyone has any idea that’d be great. thanks!
Switching filaments might really be the cause yes. I strongly believe you should never save on filament by buying cheap filaments (not saying you did by any means). But instead of putting lots of time and effort in tweaking your printer and looking for a solution, I’d recommend trying your old filament again. I’m not really familiar with the M3D, so hopefully someone else knows more from the community. Good luck with it!
If you really want to make a HUGE difference in print quality on the M3D, I strongly suggest to look into running Octoprint from your computer with the M3D Fio plugin. You’ll be amazed at the extra control (and hence quality) that it gives you with the M3D.
Check this link out for more info, and post again if you get stuck.
The Micro seems to have temperature problems; meaning-the temperature in the software isn’t the temperature at the extruder. For instance, I’ve been getting good prints for a full day with my Micro and their “Light Caribbean” PLA filament. Previously, the cheat code set up the print temperature at 215, but this new software version (1.4.2.6-WIN) has set it to 250, which is ridiculously high for PLA, but is giving me good prints. So I’m inferring that the temperature detection at the nozzle is inaccurate; you may very well be extruding at too low a temperature with your new filament.
It’s unlikely it’s the printer if you’ve changed materials. Stringy can mean too hot for the filament material. If it helps, I’ve used Makibox PLA filament at 215 degrees with minimal stringing. Just because you switch from one manufacturer’s PLA to another, doesn’t mean they’re the same material. The formulation can vary widely.
The gray is the new filament and the clear filament is the previous filament which came out quite well. You can see how the print started out fine but right at the top it starts getting stringy and shows a lot of errors. My temperature is set at 215 right now and I wasn’t sure if it should be raised or lowered slightly to see if it helps. That was the next thing I want to try though.
I would use the Filament Profiles tool to adjust the temperature up in 5 degree increments, from 215 to 240, running a test print each time , and compare the results to the M3D filament prints.
@MaceyTech do you think you could give me some pointers on downloading octoprint and how it works for the m3d. you could email me as well @ mcallies95@gmail.com. thanks!
Yeah, if you are going to use filaments other than the M3D filament you should look into using octoprint. At least then you can use sli3er to really tweak the filament to your liking and then send it over to the printer. Basically all you need for super simple set up is a raspberry pi, the latest octopi image (OctoPrint.org - Download & Setup OctoPrint 4) and the M3d fio plugin (GitHub - donovan6000/M33-Fio: The ultimate OctoPrint plugin 2) Seriously simple if you can read and follow instructions.
I’v been using open source filiment for about a year on my micro. But to be careful I used colour fab first before using cheap Chinese filements with odd temperature recommendations. Since the micro is preset to 215 degree’s unless you don’t change the temperature setting with expert mode. Inconclusion you have probably accidentally used ABS or a filiment other than PLA causing all your issues.
A better example would be of the same print with both filaments instead of 2 different prints. You can use slicer to cut the model ( and export as STL if you are using the official software) and only print the top 20 layers or so. I would probably raise the temperature for your darker filaments to increase flow.
