I printed this piece so I could have something to compare the new print quality versus the old print quality and I was surprised that the new print quality went to crap. It prints faster, sure, but what it prints is not as good as it used to be. So I’m going to put some details here and see if I can get any help from the makerbot community. This was printed using out-of-the-box defaults for RepG37, 100mm/s feed and travel rate, 1.78mm filament diameter, etc.
- The whole thing has a “bumpy” feel to it, where as the old one was smoother. Bumpy edges, bumpy flat sections. It doesn’t really come through in the picture but it’s really messing up my chess sets.
- Another thing that’s messing up my chess sets is that the tolerances are all off. maybe that’s the bumpyness, maybe that’s the new skieners. But where before I had snug fits now I have impossibly tight fits that need sanding, which is sometimes impossible.
- The bumpyness seems consistent all the way up, making vertical ridges on what was before flat surfaces. These ridges seem to follow the geometry of the wall as it changes, tho I’ve had a hard time catching a picture of it.
- The pyramids on the Acuracy Master Test seems like some of the layers aren’t sticking, so there’s a gap in the back which hopefully you can see in the picture. The smaller one just looks… blotchy. Same problem with the chess set, small details getting less connected.
- The tips of my chess pieces always had this strange gap, a hole right into them. It’s gotten worse.
- My X-axis (running front-to-back) seems off. If it looks like there’s 30mm clearance on top it’ll be right at the edge on the actual print. This may have been a problem before that I just didn’t notice. More investigation may be necessary, but any tips would be welcome.
To be sure it’s not just an artifact of going 100mm/s I slowed the feed rate down to 60mm/s (kept the travel rate at 100mm/s) but the result was pretty much the same. Same ridges, same tolerances, same problems. I’d like to stick with the new upgrades, so I hope someone out there can help me.
EDIT: In trying to capture the side-by-side image below of the old print quality vs the new print quality I noticed that the old prints did indeed have bumps that resolved to vertical ridges that followed the geometry of the shape but they were more subtle, almost invisible. Now they stand out like a sore appendage. That coupled with layers not sticking to each other… I really could use some help.
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| New print on the left, old print on the right. |
