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Characteristics of quality printing?

Posted by thetazzbot 
Characteristics of quality printing?
July 05, 2015 12:43AM
How do you judge the quality of your print and or printer?

The reason I ask is, i have a printer that isnt terribly reliable yet but prints pretty good but it is hard to compare it because i see prints out on this forum or the net in general with no info and they appear inferior to what im getting yet the printer the guys used seem way more engineered than mine...

So im wondering if there is a gallery of prints with specs...
Re: Characteristics of quality printing?
July 05, 2015 01:02AM
There are a lot of ways to judge print quality. Start with accuracy which is mostly an indicator of printer calibration. Do parts come out the intended size and shape? Are circles actually circular? Are right angle actually right angles?
Then you look at finish which is mostly a matter of precision.
If it's ABS, especially if it's large, you look for delamination or warping.
If it was printed with support material, did it come of cleanly or cause some surface damage?
You can also consider things like strength and suitability for the intended purpose, but both are pretty hard to judge based on a picture.

The print quality tells only part of the story with regard to the printer. Almost any piece of junk will turn out a decent print once in a while, but a good printer should deliver quality prints reliably, and without a lot of extra work to make it do so. Some of that is hard to separate from the skill of the operator. Even a good machine can turn out bad prints if the operstor doesn't know how to use it.
Re: Characteristics of quality printing?
July 05, 2015 03:33AM
Quote
thetazzbot
How do you judge the quality of your print and or printer?
...

Basically, it's how close your actually printed object is to what you ideally wanted it to be in the first place. Dimensions, surface finish, mechanical characteristics, even color may or may not play a role in the "quality" of a print.
It's a somewhat subjective concept, but after printing a few kg of filament most people get the hang of it. There is a learning curve, it depends very much on the quality of the filament itself, on the printer, on the experience of the person operating the printer and also, on the object itself, as some designs are much harder to print with good quality than others.

I posted a Sunday challenge #1 thread the other day with a particularly challenging small object to print and people voted on quality and speed of printing, it's most interesting to see that despite varying backgrounds most people can ultimately agree on what a quality print is.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2015 03:35AM by AndrewBCN.
Re: Characteristics of quality printing?
July 05, 2015 04:26PM
I dont see your challenge post.. Was it here?
Re: Characteristics of quality printing?
July 05, 2015 09:45PM
Right here: [forums.reprap.org]

grinning smiley
Re: Characteristics of quality printing?
July 05, 2015 10:49PM
lol "The other day" was in April
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