Printer Limitations and Improvement Areas
01
Printer Hardware
The printer must be sturdy to minimize vibrations and maintain accuracy at high speeds. A light weight, rigid motion system is crucial for high speed printing. Motions systems like CoreXY are able to stay light weight while exerting the force of two motors
02
Print Head and Nozzle
The printer’s head needs to handle a lot of material flowing through it quickly. If the melt zone is long and the printhead is light, it can make printing faster. Using a bigger nozzle or a more complex melt path for the material can shorten print times.
03
Print Settings
A lot of speed can be gained in Print settings. After finding the limits of your printer you can push speed and acceleration in print settings. If quality is not a priority layer lines can be thickened which reduces the amount of layers to be printed.
04
Material Selection
Some plastics are formulated to solidify quickly, enabling faster print times. Understanding the characteristics of different materials and selecting the appropriate one for speed is crucial. It’s important to note that material selection should also align with the intended application.
05
Software
Utilizing a more powerful mainboard processor or external computer such as a raspberry pi can enable software enhancements. Pressure advance and input shaping are two very important algorithms which can improve flow inconsistencies and Motion system vibrations at high speeds.
06
Cooling and Heat Control
Active cooling on the filament is vital to ensure the plastic cools before the next layer goes down to prevent poor print quality. A controlled ambient heat for the printer can reduce the risk of warping and improve quality at high speeds.
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To produce a 6-minute Benchy following the speed boat rules, I implemented the following strategies:
- Printer Hardware: I used a rigid Core XY Voron 3D printer with linear rails, ensuring minimal vibrations and accurate high-speed printing.
- Print Head and Nozzle: The Dragon high flow hot end and CHT nozzle allowed for efficient handling of material flow, while the new Stealthburner tool head contributed to improved cooling during printing.
- Print Settings: With a well-optimized setup, I was able to use a rapid acceleration of 20k and a printing speed of 300mm/s.
- Material Selection: Utilizing Esun ABS+ offered improved characteristics for faster print times while maintaining a better print quality, aligning with the speed boat rules.
- Software: Implementing both pressure advance and input shaper algorithms, which are crucial software enhancements, helped to address flow inconsistencies and motion system vibrations at high printing speeds.
- Cooling and Heat Management: The controlled ambient heat and the use of the Stealthburner tool head provided effective cooling during the printing process, preventing issues such as poor print quality and warping.
By integrating these strategies, I successfully produced a 6-minute Benchy, optimizing speed while maintaining satisfactory print quality according to the speed boat rules. I did not record the print thus I can not enter my time officially but I wanted to share what I learned through the process.