Best print speed and temps

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LePaul
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Best print speed and temps

Post by LePaul »

Found this blog post on Ultimaker's site and thought I would share it here...very interested in your feedback (Link)

SLOW PRINT

Usually printing slower will result in better surface quality, but this doesn’t mean that a normal or fast print won’t result in a good print, it’s just that the slower end of the spectrum is usually safer. We consider 30mm/s to 50mm/s as slow. Depending on the exact speed, you’ll need to tweak the temperature as well.
Keep in mind: a slow speed requires a low temperature. For 30mm/s start your print around 190ºC. Every resolution from 0.04 micron to 0.2 micron should work. But a thicker resolution requires a higher temperature as well. When dealing with a complex model, we recommend you dial down your speed to 20 or 30mm/s.

NORMAL PRINT

When your model is not particularly complex and you’re not in a hurry, you can print at normal speed. Normal speed is considered to range from 50mm/s to 75mm/s. The print temperature that works best for these speeds can range from 210ºC - 230ºC. We are nearing the speed where the resolution you choose starts to have an effect. Remember, if you choose 0.2mm, the volume you extrude per second is significantly higher compared to 0.06mm.

To make sure your hot-end can keep up with what your feeder is pushing forward, your temperature needs to be higher.

 Cura will tell you when you’re pushing the limits, but to give you some more insight you can calculate the extrusion volume per second with this simple bit of maths: speed x nozzle size x resolution in mm. The Ultimaker should easily handle 8mm3/s.

To give you an idea, here is a default print profile:

0.06mm / 60 micron - 220ºC - 65mm/s
0.1mm / 100 micron - 225ºC - 65mm/s
0.2mm / 200 micron - 235ºC - 65mm/s

FAST PRINT

When time is not on your side and you really want to get most out of rapid prototyping, or you’re dealing with a straight forward model, you can choose what is considered a fast print. A fast print runs from 75mm/s to 150mm/s. When doing 150mm/s with PLA you need a relatively high temperature to get a successful print, like 240ºC.

To stay within the boundaries of reliability you should not exceed 8mm3/s, in conjunction with a variety of settings. The Ultimaker can do more, but this requires tweaking of a variety of settings and therefore a higher degree of expertise is needed. When you think you are ready, feel free to play around. By sharing your experience and feedback, we can all learn.
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LePaul
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Re: Best print speed and temps

Post by LePaul »

I've seen gr5 post this a few times and curious how you guys feel about the temp range? It seems a bit high to me, with the temp range of my ColorFabb filament...but they add an asterisk to their suggested temps too!
If you want speed here are my recommended top speeds for .2mm layers (twice as fast for .1mm layers):
20mm/sec at 200C
30mm/sec at 210C
40mm/sec at 225C
50mm/sec at 240C
The printer can do double these speeds but with huge difficulty and usually with a loss in part quality due to underextrusion. Different colors print best at quite different temperatures and due to imperfect temp sensors, some printers print 10C cool so use these values as an initial starting guideline and if you are still underextruding try raising the temp. But don't go over 240C with PLA.
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Neotko
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Re: Best print speed and temps

Post by Neotko »

That analysis and gr5 post it's about um2 not plus (so less powerful feeder). Um2 hotend has a smaller hot-zone. On umo you should be able to print cooler.
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Re: Best print speed and temps

Post by LePaul »

Ah yes, good point.

I know I found 220 for 50mm/sec to work okay.
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