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Jan 2016
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Jan 2016
Jan 2016
codemercenary
Jan '16

One possible cause of sloppy overhang is overextrusion. Check your filament diameter with a caliper, and then adjust the material feedrate accordingly. Another possibility is that you are running too hot, if you’re printing at 210 then try dialing that back a bit. Keep in mind that reduction of the print temperature will increase the required extrusion pressure; to compensate you may need to tighten your feeder down a bit and increase the extrusion rate up by a few percent.

If none of that works, try printing with more shells or higher infill. Cura uses a different infill pattern when you go to 26% or above, that might work.

Aside from all of that, recommend you check all of the standard things–make sure your nozzle is clean, try an atomic pull, verify no clogs, etc.

codemercenary
Jan '16

Some of those settings you would actually adjust on the printer itself while the print is underway. The slicer settings to change are “fill density” (try 0.4) and “Shell thickness” (try 0.8mm) in Cura in advanced mode.

gr5org
Jan '16

Fan is the most important thing for those overhangs. Make sure it is at 100% by the time you get to any overhangs. Consider using more fans, more powerful fans, more open fan ducting, whatever it takes to get more fan in there. You want a bit of a hurricane if possible. Fan makes the biggest difference.

The next thing you can do to improve overhangs is lower filament temperature - I usually print at 210C but you should consider 190C as you can get improvements but at that cold temperature the PLA is like toothpaste so you need to print MUCH slower. Ultimaker forums are helpful.

Also look at your nozzle tip carefully. It needs to not have too much shoulder and should be smooth and flat. Typically the shoulder on a nozzle should be equal to the hole size. So .4mm shoulder then .4mm hole, then .4mm shoulder on the other side. Too much shoulder causes very crappy quality. “shoulders too big” is rarely an issue with Ultimakers though.