Weirdness after extruder calibration

I have a Zonestar P802M with Melzi board, repetier software, with a direct feed MK8. Out of the box it comes with the extruder Steps per MM set to 90. I Took off the nozzle, aligned the filament flush with the bottom of the heater block. I told it to extrude 100mm. It extruded about 50 so I upped the steps per mm. 191 seemed to be the magic number where it would push 100mm extactly. So I put everything back together and did a test print... It over extruded big time the filament was squishing out everywhere. So I lowered it back down to 95 steps per mm and prints started coming out clean.

What am I missing here? Did I misinterpret the steps for extruder calibration? (If it tell it to extrude 100mm, 100mm should enter the extruder, or is it 100mm should come out of the hot nozzle?)

Or since it is printing pretty much bang on dimension wise on a calibration print and the surfaces look good should I not worry about it?

It's a 100mm off the reel or 100mm into the nozzle. Out is isn't used as the thickness of the extrusion and therefore the length extruded depends on whether it's in free air, or against the build plate or a part.

---

Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Ok so that being said it should have been calibrated properly as it took 100mm off the roll when I had the steps at 191. I am confused lol

In slicer my extrusion multiplier is 1, extrusion widths are all automatic, nozzle size is correct.

Does it matter that I told it to extrude from the printer panel and not from with in repetier host? 100mm is 100mm

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2016 01:48PM by jnsbanman.

Shouldn't make any difference, check filament diameter is entered in the relevant tab, actually measure it and enter the exact diameter of your filament. But no matter how well you calibrate your extruder you will adjust the esteps/mm value when you've printed some stuff, sometimes during a print. The filament can slip, the drive gear gets clogged there's a bunch of things that can cause problems, even if you calibrate it perfectly.

---

Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Bro, after Extruder Calibration set 2 and 30 in the Repetier printer options where extruder is. And then print .5mm wall and test.