Do not point fans at it, that will cool the extruded and your print will fail due to clogging or the firmware will stop the print for the inconsistent heating
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The fact of the situation here, is a rookie user is attempting to print an advanced model on a bottom of the barrel knock off of a clone. I am not saying that this is impossible, but this is not a good start print. Overhangs, unsupported hat brims, facial features, this is a very complex model being printed. Redirecting to Google Groups 4 This is the Google group, that I manage, you might find some good information here. In a much easier to read format.
Hi Adam, agreed, I certainly am a rookie user!
I didn’t know that the model i was attempting to print was an advanced model, I thought it didn’t matter what it was you just load the model and print it. and if the temperatures are correct and bed is levelled, everything should pretty much work out of the box. But since learning that the model I am trying to print is a bit more of an advanced model it makes me feel a bit better that I cant get it to work after 8 attempts!
I’ll do as I’ve been told as well and calibrate the nozzle, download proftweak, and make some pillow blocks. I’ll get on over to your group on Google as i presume i’m not the only person struggling to get good results with this printer.
I have to argue the point about this printer being a bottom of the barrel knock off. I thought this printer was rated the second best printer on 3d hubs? That was the basis on which I bought it. 
Ah haa - I get you. I’ll get all the nuts and bolts mentioned on the Google link above and do that mod as well.
That is the next thing on my list. I figured i’d get the basics done right, like levelling the bed and getting the temps right. but yes this is important. I’m not sure what the extrusion multiplier is?
I have downloaded, installed and run prof tweak. I have duplicated a profile (the Makerbot PLA Standard) and saved it. and opened my new custom profile in Proftweak, and can see all the different settings.
I’ll get on with calibrating the nozzles and i’ll also download and print pillow blocks (i’m not sure what these are yet!)
With regards to Nozzle calibration. from my Googling it seems like the Nozzle calibration is to calibrate the distance between the two extruders. I found a post on thingiverse about nozzle calibration. But it doesnt say how do do it, or what model to print. Is there a guide anywhere on how to calibrate the nozzle?
Thanks for your patience!
Search Ctc nozzle calibration
I will disagree with this being a bottom of the barrel knock off. This printer is the best for its price you can get. Mine prints just as good or better than a maker not and I have used a maker it before. Needless to say I did some mods that make the printer substantially better but it was all printed with the same printer so to me that is a win win. I printed a better extruded block, y pillow block, glass bed, filament guide and sailfish no nozzle calibration with s3d. With those mods I can set it and forget it with confidence that it will print. So again, this is. Great printer that just needs minor mods that you can print yourself and make it better it just as good as a maker bot. At the end of the day calibration and tuning for every model is essential for good prints. The more you print the more you know what works and what does not. Also according to how the models print you can tell what needs to be tuned to make the model better. This comes with experience though. We are all happy to help and I think you made a good choice in printer.
Hi Eduardo, when I search that it comes up with a small round model … And instructions for prof tweaks.
nowhere on the page is it clear what you actually need to do, what do you do? Print the model? In the link? Measure what? It doesn’t make any sense to me, the chap who made the model in the link said he followed the instructions, what instructions is he on about. I really don’t understand. And I can’t seem to find percentage multipliers in prof tweaks either!
am I missing something here?
OK, lets all just take a step back and get to be friends again. CTC is an copy of an open source design, they took from flashforge. CTC as a company does not have the best reputation, in my opinion ( i don’t want to be threatened by another employee of CTC with litigation ). If you look at the 3dhubs results, from past years, you will see people being very happy with the output of the printer but lacking quality control from the factory. My printer came from the factory with un-insulated wiring to the heater cores, blowing up my motherboard. As to being the bottom of the barrel in the rep 1 clone world, well there is the monoprice version that has no heated bed, but this printer has not kept up with the advances of either flashforge or Wanhao. The current crop of clones now come with all metal Z stages, improved filament pusher drives, more durable 4x2 ptfe liners, not to mention mighty-boards equipped with 2560 processor, led drivers, extra cooling fan mosfet installed. You even said yourself that you had to do all these “mods” to get it to work. With all that being said, its a fine printer that once you really get to know it, and how it works you will be very happy with it. After owning mine for about 2 years it is the plug and play machine that I anticipated buying, but it was definitely a frustrating journey.
What are you slicing with? makerbot has become more and more hostile to the clones and burying settings deep inside makerware. I don’t personally use it, I use S3d, so I can give you and advice there. I have read reports of needed up open python eggs and recompile them to change some things. If you would like a copy of makerware 2.4, the last version to contain an update pertinent to our machines email me at adamcooksatgmaildotcom and I will send you a link, its a free dropbox account so i wont post that link publicly.
http://www.sailfishfirmware.com/doc/tuning-slicer-calibration.html#x27-670005.1 3
This is essentially the 3d printing bible. Please follow the calibration steps there. the 20mm 100% infill cube is the proper way to calibrate these machines.
A good rule of thumb for setting filament temps, hotter prints will come glossy, cooler prints will be matte. for high detail PLA printing you will want less of a sheen then appears in your pictures.
Hi guys for anyone reading this post. I have finally got good quality prints by doing the following…
- Install Makerware 3.8
- Print on standard settings, but change the following values, Extruder temp:222c for the PLA that comes with the printer, and Setting minimum layer time to 30s.
- I’ve left the filament diameter at the default setting (1.75) - although the filament is 1.79. Changing to 1.79 doesn’t seem to make a difference. I’ve also left the extrusion multiplier at the default of 0.93.
I’m now printing perfect pilots every time.
It seems it was a simple case of raising the temp for the PLA to 222, and slowing the layer time to 30s. Makerware 3.8 Beta is much better.
I’m sure that ensuring the printer isn’t over or under extruding is important, but doesn’t seem to be a contributing factor in the pilots i’m doing. I probably need to revisit the cubes as they are 19mm across, not 20mm. So when i come to needing to print accurately sized parts that slot together, getting it accurate will be important, but for people these settings seem pretty good.
Makerware 3.8 gives you the ability to change all the settings without having to use proftweaks.
1 month later
I’ve semi perfected printing in PLA now. good enough for what I need at least. They are no works of art, but they’ll do nicely. Im now moving to the dark art of ABS.
Quick question. Which version of makerware desktop do you guys use? Since upgrading from 3.8 to 3.9, the left extruder has started working, but for some reason i get another structure next to the main piece… and ideas?
