3D Printer Test Piece

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

In a recent thread two posters clearly had different view on what an 'almost perfect' 3D print is.

Can I suggest that in this thread folks print 'test pieces' to help in comparing the abilities of different printers. Especially useful is if you can link to the STL files for the object, so other people can print it as well.

A good example to start with is 3D Benchy as it is small and doesn't take too long to print or use too much filament.

Here's one printed on a Dremel 3D40 in PLA:

I'll put up some test print photos from the Prusa i3 later.

Neil

[Chris BaetensParticipant @chrisbaetens16442]

Neil,

Best is to print this think in black.
Black is an absolute unforgiving color when it comes to detect small irregularities. I like black,it's my absolute favorite, but I hate it because of this property…

Chris

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I printed this overhang test piece on my Prusa i3. Surprised that it was working up to 85 degrees! Finish was usable up to 75 degrees. All slopes up to that were good until the print incorporated an embossed number, which then seemed to cause unevenness higher up. Obviously I chose a lower temperature and speed than normal for this one.

The steeper angles curled a bit, and caught the blower fan ducts, eventually one of these caused missed steps so I aborted the print (you are supposed to abort this print when it starts squirting filament into thin air, inevitable at 90 degrees!

Neil

[Chris BaetensParticipant @chrisbaetens16442]

Neil,

I took a shot at it with my biggest nozzle yet…a whopping 0.8mm…!!(assembling a 1.0 and a1.2mm right now)
And as a matter of fact, not so bad at all if I may say so.
Needles to say the very small details are completely gone.

Chris

[Bob StevensonParticipant @bobstevenson13909]

Wow!…if these things can extrude chocolate you could actually print a chocolate teapot…..

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Chris Baetens on 03/07/2017 10:57:37:

Neil,

I took a shot at it with my biggest nozzle yet…a whopping 0.8mm…!!(assembling a 1.0 and a1.2mm right now)
And as a matter of fact, not so bad at all if I may say so.
Needles to say the very small details are completely gone.

Chris

Not bad for a big nozzle.

[Bob StevensonParticipant @bobstevenson13909]

Neil,….I'm SO IMPRESSED with the chocolate teapot!….Finally, it looks like digital printing has actually made something useful, at last!

[Chris BaetensParticipant @chrisbaetens16442]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 03/07/2017 11:05:27:

Com'on Neil you can do better than that…

[Andy CarruthersParticipant @andycarruthers33275]

Not bad quality given the nozzle size

I have a Robox with dual filament 0.3mm heads, I'll do a test print at the weekend. The Dremel is remarkably good quality for 100 micron

[Chris BaetensParticipant @chrisbaetens16442]

Com'on Neil,

…we want black..! we want black..! we want black..! we want black..! we want black..! we want black..! we want black..!

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

It's not my teapot, just one of t'interweb!

[Chris BaetensParticipant @chrisbaetens16442]

Was printing with a 0.4 nozzle this time, was a PLA leftover, during printing ran out of filament…

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Are 3D-printed PCBs a thing yet?

 

 

 

Martin.

Edited By blowlamp on 03/07/2017 14:27:54

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by blowlamp on 03/07/2017 14:27:26:

Are 3D-printed PCBs a thing yet?

Yes, but the easier approach of engraving PCBs has been around for a couple of decades or more.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

here we go, three (black) benchies. All printed on my Prusa i3, left to right:

Early attempt with too much retraction and poor feed adjustment leading to stripping.

Improved result without stripping.

As printing at the moment, using 0.08mm layer height. I had to remove some combing, now I have the feed dialed in I can increase the amount of retraction.

[Roger WoollettParticipant @rogerwoollett53105]

I did this on a Prusa built from a Thames Valley RepRap Group kit. It has the screwed rod frame and was demonstrated on the SMEE stand at Guildford last weekend. Just used my standard settings for PLA.

[Chris BaetensParticipant @chrisbaetens16442]

This is a rather good test but we should all print this thing in black so we have an honest comparison.
Lots of colors hide minor and even larger defects, so there's no way of telling whether a print is good or not.
Without any doubt the color black is the most 'honest' color, like I said before it si the most unforgiving color when it comes to detecting and judging small irregularities in part's perimeters.

So let's all use black please…

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Let's not exclude anyone from participating because they have the wrong filament – no aprinthead on this website!

Neil

[Chris BaetensParticipant @chrisbaetens16442]

Dam… Now you'll not going ot find out whether my prints are perfect or not. Like I told you I ran out of black, so white it'll be…

Chris

[charadamParticipant @charadam]

Neil,

Did you mean "aprintheid"?

Anyhoo, I am a complete novice/numpty with an impulse-bought Zhuhai CTC 2-head printer that I have thus far managed to fire up and print a couple of test pieces from the supplied SD card.

I am fascinated by the possibilities but frustrated by the geek communities online who only want to tell me that I have bought rubbish, but if I change the motherboard to XZCr1278 and the nozzles to titanium peroxide I will have complete success.

Can you point me in a better direction?

Thanks,

Charles

Edited By charadam on 03/07/2017 23:10:14

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

I've found this to be a very good test of a 3D printer.

It's printed in one go and all the gears rotate. It cannot be disassembled. Although all printers can print it, on some it ends up frozen and cannot be rotated.

I got the STL from Here and printed this one with an Ultimaker2.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Gary Wooding on 04/07/2017 07:52:51:

I've found this to be a very good test of a 3D printer.

I'll have a go at one of those.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by charadam on 03/07/2017 23:06:37:

Can you point me in a better direction?

Where do you want to go? In other words, what sort of thing do you want to achieve/print?

Neil

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