Chat about Cura 4 Settings and the A30.

[Sa1Wales]

ok Here is my result using 200% cube and in low quality 0.3 and added another top and bottom layer so 4 bottom layers and 4 top layers and printed in the front left corner of the print bed, Using the cura settings I posted in the post above.

[TheG]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I used 0.2 layer height on the larger cube (0.1 on the small one).

Your result is looking yet again a lot better - from looking at the cube I printed, it appears I might have issues on the x/y axis rather than the z axis, do you agree? When I get home from work I'll check the mechanical parts if I can find the time. Compared to the A10, the belts on both x and y axis are incredibly tight and require quite some force to be moved (yes, steppers are disabled). On the A10, which has a way prettier print result, those glide very smooth without much force required. Hm.

I've made sure that the extruder is parallel to the heated bed by fine-tuning both z-rods. To make even more sure, I dismantled one side of the axis (removed the rod) and wondered why it is there in the first place, the A30 seems to work as fine with only one z-rod as the A10. However, as that did not help much, I re-assembled it all, made sure the couplers had enough room (motor and rod not touching inside the coupler) and that the brass nuts and rods are well oiled.

I also loosened up most frame screws and let the z-axis move up and down maximum way a few times so all the parts could "settle" in their positions before tightening the frame screws again. That helped a bit, I think.

However, I'm running out of ideas where the problems in my prints come from. I've completely dismantled and rebuilt both my Geeetech i3 Pro Bs, my A10 and another i3 clone by CNC and thought I'm pretty experienced with the basic mechanics of 3D printers by now, but apparently I'm wrong

Thanks to you, the current results with the A30 are at least acceptable ... tho I have no clue which of all the settings had that much impact on making the print so much better.

Edit:
Could you also read out the values your A30 has set with the tool also used in this thread? http://www.geeetech.com/forum/viewtopic ... 65&t=68497
As far as I know it's the only way to configure the PID settings for an A30...

[Sa1Wales]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I used 0.2 layer height on the larger cube (0.1 on the small one).

Your result is looking yet again a lot better - from looking at the cube I printed, it appears I might have issues on the x/y axis rather than the z axis, do you agree? When I get home from work I'll check the mechanical parts if I can find the time. Compared to the A10, the belts on both x and y axis are incredibly tight and require quite some force to be moved (yes, steppers are disabled). On the A10, which has a way prettier print result, those glide very smooth without much force required. Hm.

I've made sure that the extruder is parallel to the heated bed by fine-tuning both z-rods. To make even more sure, I dismantled one side of the axis (removed the rod) and wondered why it is there in the first place, the A30 seems to work as fine with only one z-rod as the A10. However, as that did not help much, I re-assembled it all, made sure the couplers had enough room (motor and rod not touching inside the coupler) and that the brass nuts and rods are well oiled.

I also loosened up most frame screws and let the z-axis move up and down maximum way a few times so all the parts could "settle" in their positions before tightening the frame screws again. That helped a bit, I think.

However, I'm running out of ideas where the problems in my prints come from. I've completely dismantled and rebuilt both my Geeetech i3 Pro Bs, my A10 and another i3 clone by CNC and thought I'm pretty experienced with the basic mechanics of 3D printers by now, but apparently I'm wrong

Thanks to you, the current results with the A30 are at least acceptable ... tho I have no clue which of all the settings had that much impact on making the print so much better.

Edit:
Could you also read out the values your A30 has set with the tool also used in this thread? http://www.geeetech.com/forum/viewtopic ... 65&t=68497
As far as I know it's the only way to configure the PID settings for an A30...

Yeah I will post a screenshot of my settings in Smartto tool as soon as my Vase print finished, I sorted out my extruder so its just a test print to see if its fixed the blobs I was getting.

[Sa1Wales]

Here is the finished Vase it come out great exept for those spots, Ill post my Smartto settings now, though It is still at default eccept for the E Steps.

[Sa1Wales]

My Smartto Settings

[TheG]

Thank you for posting your settings! I yet have to compare the PID settings as I've now isolated the issue (and difference in the CURA profiles) that has the highest impact on the print quality.

Turns out, it's the bed temperature. As my printer is located in the basement, I normally print at 65°C bed temperature and the nozzle at 215°C. Your CURA profile was overriding this and reduced the bed temperature to 50°C, nozzle to 200°C. For the nozzle, that was too low for me (bad adhesion), but the lower bed temperature had a lot of impact.

My last test print at 50°C/210°C was a LOT better but still shows a ripple, but this time with a very high amplitude of a few centimeters (compared to millimeters at 65°C).

The current assumption is that when the bed re-heats cyclic to hold the configured temperature, something goes bonkers. Maybe it is drawing too much power and thus the nozzle is not heated until the bed is at target temp again?

To verify, I'll do another print today on a cold bed or at even lower temperature (40-45°C).

[Sa1Wales]

Thank you for posting your settings! I yet have to compare the PID settings as I've now isolated the issue (and difference in the CURA profiles) that has the highest impact on the print quality.

Turns out, it's the bed temperature. As my printer is located in the basement, I normally print at 65°C bed temperature and the nozzle at 215°C. Your CURA profile was overriding this and reduced the bed temperature to 50°C, nozzle to 200°C. For the nozzle, that was too low for me (bad adhesion), but the lower bed temperature had a lot of impact.

My last test print at 50°C/210°C was a LOT better but still shows a ripple, but this time with a very high amplitude of a few centimeters (compared to millimeters at 65°C).

The current assumption is that when the bed re-heats cyclic to hold the configured temperature, something goes bonkers. Maybe it is drawing too much power and thus the nozzle is not heated until the bed is at target temp again?

To verify, I'll do another print today on a cold bed or at even lower temperature (40-45°C).

Yeah temp for hotend varies a bit with different fillaments, I find Geeetech fillaments the best out of what I have tried, Though I have only used Transparent and White from Geeetech and I am so happy with the results printing with it, I would not change. But Ziro I also use but that for me needs a temp of 215-220 to give nice results.

Glad your getting somewhere with it now though. I am just using normal cura 4 again also now as they updated to 4.1 today so it broke things within the Creawsome mod, But looking at the results of the mod, If I increased the outer wall to say 6 and same for top and bottom layers in normal cura 4 I would prob have the same outcome in quality so ill give that a go when I change out the reel.

[Sa1Wales]

Update to my Cura 4 Profile. I did a couple of Stringing tests I managed to eliminate it,

Ziro Silver Filament-: Printing temprature 205
Bed Temprature -: 60

DSC_0952 -1.jpg (148.13 KiB) Viewed 17886 times

If you want to give it a try I have added the Cura settings Profile link should be below the photo.

Sa1Wales_A30_No_Stringing_Profile.zip

(1.11 KiB) Downloaded 1106 times

[TheG]

Awesome

However, I still have to reduce the bed temp to 45°C to get rid of the ripping - what is the ambient temperature where your printer is located? Mine is in the basement at about 18°C, I start to suspect it has to heat way too much to keep the bed at 65°C which then causes the ripple issue because of PID settings...

[Sa1Wales]

Hi G mine is right next to me in the living room, Yes I wish they would add auto PID Tuning, But as far as I know they havent released a new Firmware update since last Dec. Oh I have also Splashed out on Simplify 3D now, But was it worth $149 over cura free, hmm Im still debating that with myself as I have to get used of the new workflow as its not as simple for me as I think starting with cura I threw myself in to the deep end but managed some great results. Simplify has you looking all over the place for settings. Just getting used to a new layout I suppose but I have a week left to get a full refund I Suppose. I think I will do some Cura Vs Simplify 3D Renders and try and post the photos.

Steve.