Printing problem...

[Giles]

I've gratefully received a Saturn 4 ultra for Christmas this year, and am busy finding my way round it.

The issue is this.... I am getting inconsistencies within the same 'print' . I thought it might be the washing (in a basket on their new washer, as the plate doesn't fit in the tank as it did with the smaller models). I did a re-run of the print, and I washed the pieces manually to see if I got better results, but found that the 'flashes' on the supports were indeed printed....



Photo 1. This came out perfectly, so the problem isnt universal....







Photo 2. Another cylinder end cover which has blurred detail, and these streaked supports. I'm hoping these were created in the washing process rather than the printing process....







Photo 3. Cylinders - blurred valve chest cover bolts (directionally) together with streaked supports







This is not a phenomena I have come across before. Has anyone else?

 

[simond]

Giles,

I can only offer some observations & hypotheses…

the flashes on the supports appear to be printed. I’m guessing they are only one or two layers thick, appear on multiple supports at the same height, and they all “point the same way” which suggests to me a glitch in the print file. How it got there is anyone’s guess, but fault in the slicer, or damaged/corrupt memory stick - or are you sending data across the intranet in your home? A WiFi glitch maybe?

The valve chest cover looks to me like the resin is too viscous. Is it possible it was too cold or not thoroughly mixed? I see there are menisci on the gland studs too.

the layering on the cover is odd somehow too.

sorry I can’t offer better insights,
Happy New Year
Simon

 

[Rob R]

Would agree with Simon.
Re-slice it. Try a different memory stick. Get the room nice and toasty. Possibly try the same file/stick on the Mars and see if the issue is reproducable there.
Still trying to get to grips with the black art of FDM printing. Resin seems to be a doddle in comparison

 

[simond]

Rob,

very good thought!

Giles,

if you haven’t done anything with the memory stick, try printing the same file again & see if the same faults appear. If they do, the good news is likely to be that the memory stick has a bad file, if it does something else, you might be focussing on the printer.

 

[SimonT]

I've seen the miniscus problem. Get a heater for the printer. I switched to Anycubic printers in the autumn because they had a heater available. I believe the elegoo heater was due to be available about now.

Simon

 

[Giles]

All good stuff...... this is the second printing of the same file (with the same problems). I will delve it the file within the slicer and see if these show up, then dump the file anyway, use a different stick, and then finally do something about the temperature. If I do it in stages, then i may get an idea as to what is causing which problems......
I'm using Chitubox basic on this, as supplied with the printer, as I really don't want and won't be able to afford a tenner a month to use a printer already bought and owned....

 

[Rob R]

I usually support with the basic free Lychee and then export as a .stl and slice in basic Chitubox. Why? The basic Lychee has some repair tools and some support painting which makes life a little easier. I don't slice with it because I had a few issues early on and just dont now out of habit.
Rob

 

[SimonT]

In researching the purchase of the heater I looked at the resin specs. Anycubic specify a resin temperature on 35C for the best results. So room temperature won't do. I set 35C on the heater but it displays holding 39C. Well, it is from China!

 

[Giles]

My Mars 2 Pro would print (the same resin) at around 20 degrees - the two machines are side by side..... it may be that the Saturn is less forgiving heat-wise that the Mars.....
I've just had a play with Lychee -it's much nicer to use than Chitubox - I have just started yet another print (Lychee sliced) to see what happens with that.....

 

[Giles]

Print completed last night, I had reduced layer time to 2 seconds (from 2.5), and that improved the general quality massively! One of the two still had some speed flashes on the supports, but not on the print itself (I will find out for sure after I've trimmed it clean).
So..... temperature not a problem, possible dodgy location on the plate an issue..., but certainly in some/most sections producing very nice results.

 

[Giles]

Here we go. I'm now getting out of the Saturn at least the equal of what I was getting out of the Mars, or better....

https://flic.kr/p/2qCS1Pm