Use of Skeinforge 'Cool' plug-in - Any advice???

Hi,

I recently got my mendel printing and started printing some of the calibration items that are available. I found when printing objects that are tall (40 or 50mm) with a small surface area (10mm by 10mm) my printer started having trouble. The extruded filament starts to get clogged up on the end of the nozzle. Also, the print quality of that part of my object is poor. I initially thought my z-axis spacing was wrong but other calibration objects with a larger cross section area are ok (now). So, I'm thinking that the problem is that the layer is getting enough time to cool before I squirt the next one on top of it.

I haven't starting using Skeinforge yet (but will tonight after reading up on it). I see that most threads about skeinforge settings have the Cool plug-in not activated.
I saw one thread that suggested it my cause more issues than it solves.

Does anyone have any opinions about the Cool plug-in?
Or advice regarding its settings?

Thanks

Pete


Machine details: Mendel (Sells) using Gen6 electronics.
Printing 1.75 mm PLA at 200 deg C through a 0.5mm brass nozzle hole.
Using RepSnapper

It's easy - just enable it, set the cool type to Slow Down (not Orbit) and set the Minimum Layer Time to.. er.. the minimum layer time.

If you set the min time to, say, 10, SF will slow things down until every layer takes at least 10 seconds. Layers that already take more than 10 seconds won't be effected by Cool at all. I use a min time of 8 but it's not a Mendel so YMMV.

The only annoying thing I know is that it used to (as of SF41) also slow down travel moves, which isn't neccessarily what you want to happen. Dunno if that's fixed with the latest, SF43.

Yes, fixed as far as I can tell.

Also, you might not have the dimension/speed settings quite right.

Unless edges of the part are curling up and that is what is getting on the nozzle, there should never be a reason for buildup unless you have too much filament being extruded.

If the nozzle has a point instead of a flat around the hole it can build up extra plastic.