New to 3D Printing

[BillDevine]

Hi I just started with 3D printing. I have a Prusa I3 with a build area of 200 x 270 x 170. So I have printed a test print of the object that came with my printer. It came out better than expected but not perfect. I am trying to print the Marvin Key Chain but the print looks chunky, like there are blobs of filament in it.

The filament is brand new PLA and was in a sealed plastic bag with desiccant in it, so moisture should not be the problem. I am running at a really slow rate this it the test print it was a four leaf clover, also the chunky Marvin.

.

[Tomaz]

What´s your filament diameter, nozzle size? What were print speeds and at which temperature did you print?

[JF43FR]

I would say your flow of matter is too important. Are your flow/filament size/nozzle diameter right ?

[3DstuffsNL]

Temperature/ Speed balance, I think you are printing too hot/fast. Detect best temp by raising your nozzle above the bed, start by heating your nozzle to 170 see if you can manually push some filament through, increase temperature by 2 degree every time until got get decent flow manually. make sure when printing you are not hearing some popping sound (filament boiling) other wise reduce temp or increase speed. as mention by “Tomaz… double check your slicing parameter make sure they match with your machine hardware”.

[Tomaz]

Calibrate your extruders E-steps. When you tell it to extrude 100mm of filament, that is exactly what needs to come out.

Check and set your flow rate.

Your PLA looks pritty much destroyed meaning it spent to much time in the extruder and/or your extruder was to hot.

Try printing at about 185 degrees C at minimal print speed 20 mm/s and minimal layer height 0.2mm (if you have 0,5mm nozzle size). You can go hier, just don´t go lower with those numbers. If you have problems with cooling the print, print more than one object at a time.

[BillDevine]

Thank you everyone who gave me feedback. I am working on implementing the common theme from all of the replies which is temperature, print speed and e steps for the extruder. The last print was the best yet but still not up to the level it needs to be. Changing only temperature for the next version to see how that work out. Definitely getting closer.

Thanks again

Bill

[BillDevine]

My nozzle is .05 now have my temperature set to 180C. Before I left the temperature at the default setting for PLA which is now obviously too high, Cura says the temperature should be about 210C. Print rate is now at 50mm/s