Makergear M2 Configuration

[tmccafferty]

I was at the Maker Faire NYC this weekend. and visited with the Simplify3D team. I was explaining how I am struggling with burrs on my prints in curved areas. They suggested that I start by downloading their M2 recommended setting configuration file from the support section of their website. I'll be darned if I can find it. Can someone help by pointing me to it. Thanks.

[jimc]

thats funny, when i was talking to clayton on sat i brought up the same thing. i have managed to clean up the print quite a bit by reducing the multiplier and using the coasting but its still there and im not sure what its from. i feel i have gone as far as i can with adjustments but im not sure really. i attached a pic of a part i have printed prob 14 times and i have gotten it better each print but now i have hit a wall. its possible its the filament and has nothing to do with creator or settings but i dont know. i just ordered a new roll from makergear so i can try a different brand and compare. the bumps in the pic are enhanced by the down light so it makes it look much worse than it is but it certainly is something i would like to narrow down if i could. part is done in abs.

isnt the m2 standard settings already built into creator when you download it? mine had presets already there. not sure if thats what they are talking about or not.

[jimc]

here is another pic of my low detail preview of that same part but zoomed in real close. im not sure what that is but it certainly looks like what i have on my part.

[tmccafferty]

Yep, that's exactly my issue. Coast, retract,... would affect blobs at layer changes. My burrs aren't at the start of new layers. I've tried several filaments as well.

[jmccorm]

Not a solution, but I'm curious if unchecking "Use random start-point for outer-most outlines" would affect how this problem presents itself.

[jimc]

well i have a roll of makergear abs on the way so ill try that. i looked closely at the spool holder that came with my printer which is mg black abs and they dont have bumps on their stuff. i would continue to try different things but my printer is down right now. the extruder motor took a crap. mg is sending a new one but wont be here for a couple days. the pinion gear in the planetary box is wiped. i am wondering if that is maybe part of the problem. wishful thinking when i was at makerfair i made it a point to look at many of the printed pieces people had out. i did notice that may of the prints from many different printers and slicers had the bumps as well so i dont think this is a creator/m2 issue. with that said many of the pieces i looked at were clean too.

[jimc]

well i figured out what those lines were in the preview pic. that is the coasting. its showing where the extruding is staring and stopping. i got my roll of makergear abs and that gives me the same results as the other cheap abs i am using. still have the blobs. i am going to try a couple more things and ill see what the results are. what is funny is i put my new extruder motor on and it seemed to make the problem worse. there was so much slop in the old motor that now i am thinking i am retracting too much and causing a delay before the jump and making a blob.

[dalew8abz]

jimc,

I've gone back to trying to get the MAKE Magazine Torture Test object to print cleanly. I'm getting pretty close now --- my only problem is that Creator puts the X/Y rapid at the start of a new layer BEFORE the Z-increment to the next layer, and I keep knocking over the little end of the arch. (On the plus side, S3D did fix the sequence for Z-lift and retract when doing a rapid with those options enabled in 1.1.5, which helps a lot!) But when I enabled the G2/G3 arc option, it REALLY cleaned up the cylindrical posts nicely. The part you're printing seems to have lots of arcs, and they're looking pretty much like my columns did, so if you're running with the G2/G3 arc commands option unchecked, give it a try checked. The Marlin firmware on my M2 (printer shipped Feb. 2013) supports it. No guarantees from me for your setup, of course, but worth a shot!

I'm not at my printing machine right now, so I can't look up the coast and retract I'm using, but they're both pretty small, maybe half a mm - ish.

Dale

[jimc]

thanks dale for the input. yeah this part is 100% made of arcs. i havent bothered to try the g2/g3 because i thought it was not supported. my m2 is only a month old now so if yours is good then mine should be i guess. ill try it out. the blob i am getting is at the beginning of each line. i have worked on it tonight. tried the bottom 3/8" of that part about 10 times with different settings just tweaking and fine tuning each time. i basically nailed it on this last one. i was randomizing the start points which scattered those blobs all over the place. with all my experimenting to make that start point nice and clean i have found my retraction to be set at 1 but the coast really helps the most and is set at 2.8 which i guess is kinda high but i am watching the line go down and its not running short at the end at all so i guess thats fine. multiplier .88, temp 220, makergear black abs. i turned the random start point off so now my print this time is super clean, almost flawless. all i have is a real super small line where it starts each layer. as a matter of fact, its printing right now and this is the cleanest print i have ever done of anything to date. here is a pic so far.

now that you mentioned it i think i want to try that torture test out and see what happens with it. i forgot all about that thing.

[dalew8abz]

jimc,

Looking REALLY nice! I'll take a look at my coast setting -- might be higher than I'm remembering... and I've been printing only MG black PLA so far. I haven't opened up my roll of ABS yet -- I've been watching the threads about adhesion and bed temperature and enclosures and trying to decide what I might do to set up for ABS. For now, PLA is doing what I need.

You're getting layer-to-layer alignment on your arcs better than I was getting on the torture test part before I enabled G2/G3. Could very well be that you don't need it, or there's something about the torture test object in how the columns are laid out in CAD. But for me, enabling G2/G3 was like night and day --- the columns are just as nice as can be now, and with the better alignment they are much stronger. Before I could just push them over.

In your second image, I'm looking over at the far right of the part, where the edge is back-lit, and zooming in on the layering. There's just enough jaggedness there that I would suggest you try printing with G2/G3. If it doesn't look better by the time you've printed to the same height as in your pictures, you can cancel it and say the heck with it. But give it a try, at least!

Dale