MakerGear Forum

Hello all,

Ive had some mixed results so far with my M2. 80% of things I can get to print out in pretty decent quality. I want to solicit some advice from the pro's on the board

on prints with built in joints that you can print assembled they always seam to be too tight and I end up breaking the piece before I can get the joint working
An example would be the tail on this monkey http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1316742
and this entire print has failed on me numerous times http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1709106

Ive tried supports and with out supports.


My settings are
Makergear PLA (Black)
extruder temp 200f
bed temp 70f
nozzle diameter .35
extrusion multiplier .92 ( lower seams to give me worse first lay adhesion )
extrusion width .50
retraction distance 1.2
top/bottom/side 2 layers
resolution .2mm
skirt/brim outline 3
infil 10-20%

printer speed 3000 mm/min

if there is anything else I might need to include please let me know

Yeah, those kinds of files are absolutely the worst to try to print. (Design failure, not anything the printer does.)

It looks like the guy who did the monkey file already knows the fit is too tight on the tail.

Use a very high infill....less chance of breakage.
Work the joint gently back and forth.
Carve around it with a thin blade to break it up if you can.
Expect to lose a few.
Get some glue.
Rework the design to give more gap around the pin.

You might try the "horizontal size compensation" on the Other tab in S3D. A negative number will shrink knobs and expand holes by that amount. If you have a hole that's printing at 4.9mm, -0.05mm will result in a 5mm hole because it's an offset, so it's 0.05mm on the radius.

It won't help for any vertical gaps and I suspect it'll make horizontal holes non-round, but it still might free things up enough.