Hey guys! I am new to 3d printing and the x2d I got about a month ago is my first printer. I’ve been obsessively watching any videos I can and have done some calibration, but at this point not sure where to go about tuning things. I’m using Inland (microcenter) Pla basic right now on a cryogrip glacier plate. What can I do to improve this? I want to get things as smooth as possible with as much layer lines gone as possible. Don’t really care about print time right now I want quality over speed. I’ve slowed down my speeds a decent amount. I have the first layer calibration on the x2d screen set to -0.03 (what do others have this at?). Bed temp 50c, nozzle 215c. I’ve calibrated flow ratio and k-factor, but not sure if its correct. Flow I have at 1.03 and K-factor=0.018, mvs set to 20, but again feel like I can’t calibrate it. When I do the test everything looks perfect? What do you have yours? Layer Height=0.08mm, archane walls, outer/inner, initial layer speed 30mm/s, outer wall 30, inner 50, top surface 30, bridge flow 1.5 with bridge speed at 10. I used adaptive layer height set all the way to quality and smooth set to 10. Happy to post any other settings. The first picture is showing this like filament dust or something that it does a lot. What is that and how do I prevent it?
That Benchy looks pretty damn good.
Remember, a Benchy is specifically made to bring out defects.
Only things that I can recommend is drying your filament and maybe tuning the retraction a little.
Welcome.
You mention you want to get rid of layer lines as much as possible, but didn’t mention the most important factor… what nozzle size you are using. Looking at it, I’m guessing you’ve swapped to a 0.2mm nozzle, but if you are using the 0.4mm then that’s crazy good already.
As CD said, dry your filament. Inland PLA isn’t a bad filament, but it’s not the best either. Most of that stringing will probably be resolved after drying.
The other thing I would suggest is just turn off the adaptive layer height. I suspect some of those layer lines you are seeing is due to a dramatic change in the layer heights because of changes in layer times.
There’s a setting in the “Cooling” tab of your filament profile that I suggest investigating:
If you aren’t set to “consistent surface”, try using that to see if you get any improvement.
Finally… if you have your auxiliary fan turned on in that same filament profile Cooling tab… I suggest turning it down by 50% and opening the door and lid of the X2d enclosure… it’s hard to say, but I’m seeing increased stringing on the starboard (right) side of the benchi compared to the port side, which could be due to the aux fan speed settings.
Good luck!