if your using makerware make sure you have yoursettings set to high, getting a quality pint out of marven is tricky. when i did it i ran my flasf forge pretty slow 60mm for print speed and 70 for travel. i also dove into the miricle.json file and turned on dynamic speed. you can get to this when you make a custom profile. hope this helps
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Try increasing the number of shells in settings. I have also found that lowering/raising the temperature slightly helps. Also adjusting these settings with different color PLA makes a difference. I have found different colors have different roughness under the same settings, so adjusting for color makes a difference. Slowing down speed also helps as well as room temperatures…I use a space heater sometimes to keep constant temp.
Thanks for all of the replies! I am using an original replicator. The settings that I used for the PLA plastic are: infill: 10%, shells: 2, layer height: 0.1 mm, heated build platform is set to off, print speed: 30mm/s, travel speed: 100mm/s
Definitely take a look at mods for part cooling fans, specifically ones that use a centrifugal blower fan.
a.) “Use the right tool for the right job”. Print using a different printer technology (i.e. SLA/SLS, etc) if you need high tolerance and great surface finish. I have printed Marvin on a Form1+ and they come out beautiful. Form (i.e. SLA) does an excellent job at surface finish without post process, compared to FDM/FFF printers. Personally I use thermoplastic printers for mechanical parts, etc. Form et al performs very well with “organic” rather than parametric objects. All print techs have pros & cons.
b.) You could try a chemical (e.g. acetone vapor bath, or XTC-3D) or physical post process (e.g. sanding, precise heat) with your material … or if you don’t have access to a resin or powder printer, you could outsource it to a bureau like shapeways or other 3rd party service. I know this defeats the purpose of your inquiry, but it’s an option.
The part came out pretty good, but now I am going to push the limits even further and slow down the speed and lower the temp of the extruder. I’ll post pictures later.
I have the first MakerBot Replicator. Due to specs, I can only get 100 microns (0.1mm). That’s the best you can get with the resolution of the Z axis stepper motor, build plate flatness, and resolution of the extruder stepper motor and its ooze-type settings. To get higher resolution prints with ABS: Set you layer height down to the desired height. Level your build plate while heated You can prevent warping by applying an adhesive around the print area. A great solution is to mix a piece of ABS with acetone to get a sort of milky solution and apply this to your build plate with a rag. To help prevent unsupported edges (not all overhangs get supported with the aut-generated scaffolding) slow down your feedrates. Somewhere around 60-70 for ABS. This helps the ABS adhere to itself and not curl off the edge of the print. One last suggestion is to make sure you have proper infill percentage. Treat infill like your supports, but on the inside. If you have a higher percentage, the “roof” layers (flat areas) will be supported easier and therefore won’t curl or sag as bad as they typically would with a lower percentage. Its typically recommended to set your percentage between 10 and 20 percent. Beyond 20 is usually unnecessary for strength of the part. Hope this helps!
Buy Simplify3D software, and you should be able to have more control over your CAD files for printing. And from there you can print on a highest quality. Especially controlling those supports overall its a great software.
Something i did not read here, is the fact that small parts need the setting “minimum layer time”. So in makerware you could make a custom profile where you set min layertime to 10 sec. Now your layer can cool down a bit, so it has the needfull strenght for receiving an other layer.