An Attempt to print a Small Cylinder

I'm trying to print a small cylinder like this:



My data:

3D Printer: Ord Bot, Hadron
Extruder: MakerGear Plastruder, nozzle = 0.35 mm
Slic3r 0.8.4 (0.85dev)
Layer Height: 0.25 mm
Filament: PLA

What I already did:

Slow speed: 20 mm/s
Multiple Prints
Fan cooling (several types)

Skeinforge has an option: Cool->Cool Type: Orbit, I didn't try it, but I think this is more or less similar to Multiple Prints.

The quality with multiple prints is not optimal, because the print-flow isn't continuous.

I'm trying to interrupt the printing process moving the extruder up every n (n=5 ..10) layers, wait to allow print to cooling down, extruder down again and continue printing. The problem is that I can't stop the extruder fast enough extruding the filament ( I tried with a retraction of 10 mm by 30 mm/s).

Any thoughts?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2012 05:11AM by flurin.

Try either building and fitting a fan or, as I did to start with, just use a desk fan and turn it on after the first layer.

---

Using ABSPrusa Mendel Zaphod with Pronterface and slic3r 1.3.0. Printing well with 3mm PLA and ABS through 2 x J Head Mk IV b and Wade Geared Exruders. Controlled using RAMPS1.4 board running Marlin_v1.1.9

@MotoBarsteward

Thank you for your feedback. I tried both.
The sticking point is the increasing heat, when the extruder stays inside a small area. The print hasn't enough time to cool.

I added the slt-file in case you would like to print it and so get an idea.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2012 11:16AM by flurin.

It's a bit of a hack, but one suggestion I see a lot is that you should try printing more than one at a time, so that gives each layer time to cool while it's printing the other copies.

I wonder what the "real" solution is, though.

I can print tiny things like that simply by keeping the layer time above 20 seconds, admittedly with ABS rather than PLA.

---

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

@Mazaw

I've improved my cooling and I'm going to try again with multiple prints ( read above about quality).
The goal is to find a solution for single print.

@nophead

I'll get a heated bed soon and I'll try using ABS. But I think that the heat problem printing a small area will be the same.

Well all I can say is it works for me with my own software. It does end up moving very slowly for example when making the top of the domed handle on this thing [www.thingiverse.com]. The extruder motor ends up just ticking. Initially I got an overflow as the timer value had become too big to fit in 16 bits so I had to set a minimum speed as well.

---

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

@nophead

I printed the Wheelmm.stl and the SmallCylinder.stl with the same config using PLA:



The small difference: Wheelmm has a diameter of 8 mm, SmallCylinder only 5 mm.