#Help Printing Miniatures
brittle warren
I would do an extruder calibration
Seems like you have a lot of overextrusion
Also 0.05 layer height is teeny tiny
Ik you have 0.2 nozzle but cmon
Also would lower temp and print slower because you have a bit of blobbing, but that could be caused by overextrusion too
Yeah
Extruder calibration makes a big difference with such small nozzle diameter and layer height
No.
Also make sure you have the right diameter in the slicer, hope you checked that
But I think that's pretty obvious
I think I also made a miniature once at 0.15 layer height
Wanna see?
spring ore
subtle mist
@craggy rain Blobbing and ugly surfaces on small models can be caused by the filament being placed down upon non-cooled previous layers as well; try the "Minimum Layer Time" in Cura, and check the "Lift Head" box (you'll probably need to make it visible in the "Settings Visibility"). I set the "Minimum Layer Time" to 10s with a 0.5mm nozzle and the surface quality is basically perfect now.
Also, are you using "Random" for seam placement? If yes, maybe align it to the back, or sharpest corner...I can't tell if some of those blobbies are seams.
Also, even though you CAN print at a lower layer height with a tiny nozzle, doesn't mean it will print well. I thought I should use 0.06 to get the best quality with a 0.4mm nozzle, but it ended up looking the worst. Maybe I was just inexperienced with other settings at the time, but you need to modify more than a couple of settings when nozzle size is changed.
subtle mist
@craggy rain The only thing is with PrusaSlicer, they have the setting for layer time (as shown in the image you posted), but I don't think there is currently a way to specify that the head/nozzle should lift and wait, like Cura does. I believe it has been requested on GitHub, for PrusaSlicer, but as far as I've seen in the settings, it's not implemented, and I haven't tried it in PrusaSlicer myself. Give it a shot and let us know.
@craggy rain I have zero experience with a 0.2mm nozzle, so I cannot advise there. I know that I have struggled with issues when switching nozzle sizes in general though; even going from 0.4mm to 0.5mm I needed to make adjustments and test print quite a bit to get everything looking nice, but there may have been some mechanical issues there. I wouldn't mind seeing a calibration print (cube, Cali Cat (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1545913), or all-in-one) from you so there's some more data to base suggestions upon.
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desert spire
are you happy with it?
desert spire
Okay. Can you be more specific about what you'd like to solve then? Just pictures leaves us guessing what you're unhappy with.
ah I see 🙂
it looks like the issues you're having are related to printing either in mid air or small parts of the object.
Hence I suspect it's cooling related. Someone else mentioned that earlier on as well.
Can you tell us about the current printing settings you used for that cat model?
desert spire
The settings you used to print it 😅
Layer height, line width, wall count, infill percentage
temperature of the nozzle
temperature of the bed
speed in the slicer
speed on the printer
cooling fan usage
maybe the time it took to print the model if you remember
hearty glen
i think your low layer height is hurting you there tbh
.4 nozzle is definitely better
try to go for .16 or .12 layer heights.
i personally prefer .16 for a 0.4 nozzle since it keeps some speed and honestly you cant tell much detail apart
for context i print at .16 layer height with a 0.4 nozzle and with ASA instead of PLA
And these are some of my more crude results
With what I suspect was wet filament
And those were at 0.2 layer height actually iifc
figure out the blobbing, dont go too low in layer height its not worth it, use organic supports if youre not already itll save you a lot of headaches
also going 0.2 for the first layer can help with adhesion. if you dont have issues with that thats great
usually thats where the circular base is so i dont mind it being 0.2
good
i can tell you from experience, 0.2 is a nozzle size that clogs very very easily so imo it doesnt actually help the quality at all
layer height and the perimeter generator prusaslicer has that you already use are a bigger impact imo
0.2 CAN give better results, but only if youve got it tuned perfectly cus otherwise partial clogs and stuff can cause issues
yeah i just stay at 0.4
0.2 just flows worse cus smaller nozzle so its harder to calibrate
i use ASA so i print at different temperatures but ive got prusaslicer open rn and am printing minis rn so yeah id be happy to
but remember that ASA is a bit less brittle than PLA so i dont need as many perimeters and stuff
ah lol
honestly i think your main issue rn is that blobbing and i dont have experience with that
desert spire
Have you tried dropping your nozzle temp yet, as suggested?
Printer speed is regarding feed rate percentage on your printer's LCD. If you haven't touched that, it's default.
I'd reduce perimeters to 2 for mini's, as 3 probably causes a lot of heat to build up when it doesn't need to.
You can slow down the infill printing speed under Speed (in Cura) or whatever option regards it, to give it more time to cool
Nozzle temp, not bed temp
hearty glen
I'd reduce perimeters to 2 for mini's, as 3 probably causes a lot of heat to bui...
more perimeters can also help tho on finer details like a vertical sword cus otherwise it tries to do a tiny infill and that can often cause failures
desert spire
more perimeters can also help tho on finer details like a vertical sword cus oth...
Minimum infill area parameter exists 🙂
hearty glen
yeah thats fair but ive found that to be very fiddly sometimes
desert spire
hearty glen
but it definitely solves the issue
desert spire
infill area is calculated on a layer basis.
hearty glen
dunno what its called in prusaslicer tho
desert spire
So to know the infill area, take the layer height multiplied by the rough surface area of the infill
desert spire
dunno what its called in prusaslicer tho
Not sure if PrusaSlicer has it. I can check if you want me to
hearty glen
nah ill do it ive got it open
desert spire
is that "Length of infill anchor" stock? Is it different for you @hearty glen ?
Looks like it's awfully long 🤔
600% would be 600% of line width in PS, I think.
hearty glen
oh btw concentric bottom fill looks wayy better and works imo better for adhesion for the circular bases
for top fill pattern its up to you but i prefer concentric still cus it looks more natural
thats up to you but yes i personally prefer it cus i dont need infill to be strong i just need it to support the internal structure and since archimedian cords is a spiral it wont cause issues as much with it trying to print on air
and it prints faster when it can do the spiral vs doing a grid
but obv smth like a grid or triangles will cause even less issues with that
oh and xy size compensation is a life saver
ill give you an example sec
with
without
it saves you from failures and bad detail and dont worry it doesnt take away that much detail from a mini. arguably maybe the face but imo if the face otherwise doesnt print properly thats worse
it also really helps with preventing failures of thin objects like sword handles and stuff
hearty glen
What printer was this on again?
SV06 is what theyre printing on
desert spire
Hmm. I suppose it's fairly new.
I would've suggested checking for wear or binding on the Z axis
hearty glen
oh wait my settings were still off lol i recently tried it and archimedian cords is way better for bottom fill pattern too. and top if you want it
Example of concentric left vs archimedean chords right. This is a tiny ass mini so forgive it for not being perfect
I'm talking about the top of the base near the paws to be clear
Obviously if the base is textured like your original picture this won't make much difference
desert spire
layers would always be visible
but I suppose you mean the visible difference in the surface where the layers don't quite line up on the surface
hearty glen
ye its a test i print for new settings. takes 9 min when i print it at 0.2 which i usually do
in general i'd say yes since arch cord has less seams than concentric and doesnt build up material like monotonic for example
the seams compared to concentric still applies, but the build up of material argument doesn't.
for infill just use whatever looks supportive enough of the inner structure so nothing prints on air, but is fast
imo arch chords is probably faster than triangle since it doesnt have sharp corners for accel deccel but that just depends on the print
hearty glen
i mean you'll lose detail but no for the purposes of this no
hearty glen
sounds like warping. you might need more cooling
dont worry it doesnt always fail the print
yeah thats warping. try printing with a brim and maybe increase your cooling. also maybe increase minimum layer time.
the individual layers look wayyyy better now tho
i dont have any experience with PLA but that much cooling immediately for ABS and ASA can cause warping too
try going 50% after first layer and 100% at layer 5 or smth
obtuse field
most default profiles have off for 2 layers then 100%
hearty glen
Did you restart the test print with the change in cooling? I'm invested now lol
Also because I'm still printing my own minis rn lol so it's something to keep me occupied while I worry about one of these failing
Lmao is it looking good tho?
No warping?
Good. Means it probably was the cooling setting. Go 50% after layer 2 and then 100% at layer 4 or smth then
3 sword fighter minis for my campaign
yeah its really come in handy for that
i print minis after every session lol
yuuuuuuup
one day i wont have a need tho cus ill make a tv table and run talespire on it
nah cus talespire has minis
its a fully 3d virtual tabletop
look into it its amazing
nah not with a tv table
hearty glen
disable auto cooling
28mm is the size of the base not the height
i use 35mm cus thats the grid size of the map i have
also dark mode is superior lol
but it makes prusaslicer prettier lol
also for me its way less eyestrain
but your reasoning is sound
ah
hearty glen
so warped essentially. youve also got layer lines caused by top infill. this ones beyond me tbh but i think theres still some work to be done on cooling but overall it looks ok
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