What do you print to calibrate and test your printer?

[federico3]

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a personal project, aimed to find a complete test for reviewing the print quality. What do you print to calibrate and test your printer?

I’ve found some interesting STL files on Thingiverse, but I’d love to have some suggestions and feedbacks from you since you’re working every day with printers. Here you can see some examples of what I’m printing to test a Zortrax M200 and an Ultimaker 2+:

• Can you print the Ball? Print challenge: Can you print the ball? by humbertomelo - Thingiverse

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• HS Printer test, HS Printer test - ver 3 by energywave - Thingiverse

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• Test your 3D printer v3, Test your 3D printer! v3 by ctrlV - Thingiverse

• Test your 3D printer v2, http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1019228​

• Torture test, Torture Test by MAKE - Thingiverse

Do you use something different? If yes, can you share here the STL file that you’re using?

Cheers,

Federico

[marisa89]

Have you ever printed this one?

[federico3]

@marisa89, Thanks for your feedback! Yes, I’ve already printed the boat.

[chunkysteveo]

Impressive test prints - I don’t think you need to “test” your printer any further!!

Perhaps a Marvin to test it’s minimum layer time - small objects tend to retain heat more than larger object as the head returns to the same point more quickly.

Steve

[federico3]

Hi Steve,

I’m trying to design a stress test, it’s not for my printers.

Federico

[chunkysteveo]

Ahhh, makes sense!

I would probably advise using existing ones then, simply because you will/may/should have other user examples of the same printer model and setup? Being able to check the print quality against existing printer users is very handy, and as you have shown - there are a dozen ways to “print test” a printer, which all come out differently

Steve

[3DMuse]

As an M200 owner when I read this thread I was like, calibration on the M200? This thing prints well all day everyday!

So anyways back to stress tests, I try to think of areas where the prints usually don’t do well:

• Overhangs in varying angles, 45-90 degrees
• Bridging tests
• Retraction torture tests where you have a lot tiny pins that the nozzle has to print. 5x5 grid with 1.2mm in diameter for example
• Printing something sharp like an inverted ice cream cone

Combing these aspects I can imagine constructing a hemisphere but with pins that originate from the “core”. The tips of the pins outline the surface of the hemisphere. And lastly construct a bridge in a circular pattern to connect the tip of pins on the same height.

Not very artistic but here’s a quick 2D sketch. Red lines are the bridges.

[federico3]

Hi @3DMuse,

That’s the point: the Zortrax is insane in terms of reliability and quality. I’m trying to understand what’s the limit of this machine: for example, I’ve noticed that it has got quite a lot of problem in printing small, thin and tall objects.

I’ll try to print something similar and I’ll let you know what will be the result.

[3DMuse]

If we’re talking about the limits of Zortrax then I would say its retraction has some weaknesses. When printing chess pieces, 8 pawns at once for example, the surface has a lot of blobs. Cleaning it would result in scars.

And you’re right, small objects are quite difficult to print. You are limited to the 0.4 mm nozzle. Another point is the machine cannot print 100% infill. So some small objects that require infill will be hollow and just have walls. In the end the part won’t work. A recent example I printed is this Axis Aligner for Ultimaker by owen - Thingiverse

Set it to maximum infill but the part is non usable as it is too weak. In the end had to print it on my Ultimaker. Surface quality was good, just non usable. Those are the few examples where I think other printers do much better. Other than that it’s still my favourite machine, it just works without you needing to mod your bowden tube and feeder, thousand settings, trial and error etc.

So my conclusion is, there is no perfect printer out there, you need probably 2-3 good printers whose strength compliment each other. Then you can print all materials like a pro.

[Odense3DPrint]

i normally print a single wall cube to get my flow rate right. ie with a 0.4 nozzle i print a single wall cube with 0.4 thick walls

other than that i use standard settings in cura

of course i use the single wall cube to also test dimensions are correct

[Odense3DPrint]

btw i’m not one of those that go wooow fast print times

i aim for quality and dont care if it takes longer

[Odense3DPrint]

oh yes… those that says to print marvin… why not advanced marvin?

Marvin Advanced by DEEPFRI3D

[federico3]

Hi @Boelle,

Thanks for your suggestion, I’ll try to print it immediately both on a Zortrax and on an Ultimaker 2+!

Federico

[Odense3DPrint]

what printers do you have in the Amsterdam office?

it could be nice if your work could end up with a kind of guide on how to tune settings to get the max out of a printer

not just the big brand ones but also us “poor people” with kit build ones

[federico3]

At the moment, we have:

• Two ZortraxM200
• One Ultimaker 2+
• A SIGMA BCN3D
• One BeeFist
• One DeeGreen

I’m trying to figure out which one can be a good calibration/quality test, that can be printed also with printers that aren’t so professional as the Zortrax, Ultimaker os Sigma.

[MindFuLL]

These are stress tests. They are great for testing speed, cooling, extrusion temps, retraction.

Calibration for dimensional accuracy is something different. It’s done with simple shapes and a caliper.

I like this one: Perimeter width Test object - slices nices by lshachar - Thingiverse
It’s very simple but if you print parts that need to fit together, it’s very useful. Usually the first thing I print on a new build. Once I achieve dimensional accuracy and parts that fit together, I’ll move on to the stress tests.
-Jesse

[Jackson_Moody]

Hi!

There are TONS of great 3D printer “tests” on the internet. You seem to have found a few good ones, along with others in the forum. Personally, I typically just print a 20mm cube. While the test is simple, it helps calibrate your printer’s dimensional accuracy. You seem to be printing more stress/torture tests, but dimensional accuracy is important too. I hope this helps!

[federico3]

Hi @MindFuLL,

That’s a great test. I’m playing with it: the results was amazing with my Sigma, Zortrax and BeeFirst. I definitely need to work more on the calibration of my Ultimaker 2+!

[federico3]

Hi @Jackson277,

Thanks for your feedback, I’ve started to work also on the calibration, using a quite simple model that Mindfull suggested in a comment.

[Jackson_Moody]

Great! Calibrating your printer is essential to printer performance and accuracy.