1

Hi,

I’m a total newbie here so please forgive me. I’ve been on so many forums and read so much that I’m totally confused now!

I’ve printed a snail! and the first few layers appear as though they have melted but from 5mm up, its a perfect print!

My settings are, using PLA,

190oC extruder

70oC Bed

90mm/s

15% infil

.10mm layer height

Any help would be gratefully received.

Thanks,

Jon

16144939_1251586224918781_1777611710_o.jpg
16144939_1251586224918781_1777611710_o.jpg1000×1334 80.8 KB

1 Like
2

Hi @slugbut what printer is that? Are you using any cooling at all? For PLA you should have your nozzle cooling fan on from layer 2, at maximum for a piece that small. 70C for the bed is quite high for PLA, for some surfaces PLA doesn’t require a heated bed at all so I’d reduce that to no more than 50C, although I don’t think it’s a contributory factor to the actual problem. To be honest, even above 5mm, I would say that print is overextruding. 90mm/s also sounds a little quick, I’d try knocking that down to half that for this sort of small detail piece. Another trick for such pieces is to print two at the same time which can help prevent the filament sagging because it hasn’t cooled enough between layers.

So, in summary, more cooling, lower extrusion rate, lower bed temp and slower speed and maybe try printing two at once.

3

Are you supporting the first part of the print? It looks to me like the problem is that part of the print, (the lower part) is just sagging all over the place. You need supports anywhere you print something that sticks out more than about 45o.

Also, you are printing very fast, so hard to tell you about that without knowing your printer.

Probably also, because the item is so small, you need to increase whatever cooling options you have, or try printing snails and other things together to give your layers time to cool before the next layer is laid down.

But mostly, I think this is a supports issue.

4

Hey slugbut,

I am guessing that you are printing on the CTC dual extrusion 3d printer, and you are not using any part cooling fan. Here is a part cooling fan which I used on my printer. It works much better with than without it.

I hope this helps :slight_smile:

BTW, Where did you get that snail from? Then I can show you my results

5

I agree on the bed is too hot. Start at 65 then drop the temp to 60 or 55 after the first layer.