A little advice on first prints

^^^Ok class. Close your books. Put away everything off of your desk. Get your number 2 pencil out. Here is the test.. you have 50 minutes."
LOL. Does that bring back memories or what... When I was flying we were tested every 6 months. We called it "bet your job week."

Don't think Guns that everyone is sprinting while you are walking. Not true. You will come up to speed. I have been doing this for a while and still have not dove into the belly of the beast when it comes to ALL of the print settings in Cura. The longer you play with it, the more will come to you. You got this..
 
Thanks Pierre, that will help diagnose issues I’m slightly seeing. I know I just need to do a full calibration...I don’t expect it to work straight out of the box. I see I could use a “Marlin” firmware update as well (I’m at 1.1.16). Watched a video on that....no thank you. So much to learn, really got to get into learning the code/lines for the g-code. People are talking about going in there and throwing this alpha-numeric jibberish on some line number to make it home & extrude...talked about it like I’d tell someone how to get to the bathroom in my house! Good times...
 
yeah, Marlin drives me nuts with all the hoops you have to jump thru. OTH, they have an answer for everything and there's lots of people who know it and can help. But come on, compile the software for every change you want to make? And which file do you have to change? Argh. :)
 
You can adjust things in Marlin, but it's not the simplest thing to do. :) I only recommend it if you want to make big changes to how the printer works. I did it so I could add a BL-Touch and use the electronic bed leveling system. I don't think you need to go there right now. Updates tend to be released now and then that are tested and pre-configured for your printer so you don't have to learn how to make it work. I'm a programmer and it took me a while to sort it out. :)

Focus on leveling, slicer settings, leveling, and perhaps some basic gcode stuff so you can see how things work. Oh, and leveling. :)

The newer machines are good enough that you can assemble and click print, and get decent results. To get issues fixed up you will end up needing to tinker some with settings. The best settings will depend on the filament type, brand, and even the color. Though thankfully for us, the color usually only needs slight temperature changes.
 
For sure...normally a firmware upgrade would be high on my priority list, but I have bigger fish to fry AND it was way above my comfort level right now.
 
Bowden printers are notorious for stringing. I'm guessing here, but when you're printing at 0.05mm layer heights, you're not pushing as much plastic as with 0.2mm layer heights. This means your retraction settings don't have to be quite as aggressive to keep the plastic from oozing. I didn't see which slicer you we're using, but with a properly setup and calibrated bowden setup, retraction is usually the next thing to fine tune.

It looks like you could fine tune the first layer a little bit, but it's hard to tell from the picture. Temps and cooling can also play a part in oozing, so knowing the slicer and many of your settings is really the only way to attempt to help beyond generalizations.

Marlin can seem intimidating and it's kind of archaic in it's implementation, but once you dig into it and start looking around, you'll realize that although it can be tedious at times, it is relatively straightforward to use. You should probably spend some time with it, because I forsee a BL Touch in your future. :D
 
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@acruxksa I’m bouncing around on slicers...honestly I’ve had the best luck with Creality’s slicer. Probably something else, I dunno.
I did do the 100mm extrusion rest, I was running at 91.x that is dead on now. I do question retraction as well, haven’t come across that test yet or at least haven’t done it. I have no idea what a Bowden setup is.
I don’t really play with the settings in the slicer(s) I guess if I could settle on one, but the most popular are also the most intimidating. I looked through the different tabs/menus and I’m just overwhelmed.
 
Even with all the calibration so far....is this settings within the Slicer? 1.75mm PLA @200* these strings should not be there...
 

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The slicer does control retraction. “Bowden” refers to the style of extruded where the drive wheel is distant from the hot end, pushing a length of filament into the hot end. Apparently your printer uses a Bowden setup? If so, there is a lot of compliance in the filament between the drive wheels and the hot end, so the compressed filament will continue to extrude if you don’t have it retract sufficiently during moves.
 
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