3D Printing Research - superjamie/lazyweb GitHub Wiki

Research

Useful things other people have found out, and references to them.

8-Bit Speed Wall

Tech2C found out the fastest an 8-bit Arduino setup (RAMPS) can print over serial is pretty slow, and over sdcard on a CoreXY the fastest it can plot curves is about 75mm/sec:

CoreXY requires more complex computations than cartesian so these limits don't apply to Mendel or cantilever designs. They're probably fairly applicable for Ultimaker-style gantries tho.

Aluminium Build Plates

Use cast, not rolled. Trade name for precision cast plates is MIC6:

corexy

E3D V6 Extrusion Speed Limit

Bryce Standley found out the fastest an E3D V6 can reliably extrude is about 150mm/sec, faster than that and there is poor layer adhesion due to the filament not spending enough time in the melt zone and not getting hot enough:

A Volcano-style hotend should be able to print faster.

Fan Ducts

ruiraptor showed that Lion4H's Fang Duct is really good:

Infill and Supports

3D Printing Nerd suggests most infill is a waste of time and plastic:

Which is all well and good as long as your design doesn't overhang too much or try to print in mid-air.

Angus from Maker's Muse shows printing with multiple infill processes in the same model using S3D could be a good compromise, or just use S3D manual supports properly:

Printed smoothrod Bearings

Russ from RWG Research showed that printed PLA bearings work best with silicone spray lubricant, and lasted pretty well even after a year of heavy printing:

List of models and discussion on r/Reprap:

Some people make a carrier which holds PTFE (Teflon) tubes for the bearing surface:

Z Probe Accuracy and Repeatability

Both Tom and Tech2C have done research and reviews on these: