help with troubleshooting quality

[Scott Roberts]

The last few benchy's I have done have not been coming out well, rather quite horrible.  

the first 1/4in seems to be coming out great, the infill is solid and everything looks perfect.  

once it starts the first roof on the little square pocket and starts doing more retractions the infill starts underextruding and looking like swiss cheese. Though the walls come out fine with a small blob on start/stop points.   

retraction is set at the default 4.5mm.  

printing at 50mm/s overall, 

infill at 40mm/s 

40mm/s roofs

I have tried bumping the temp from 210 to 215 and 218, but my results don't change

On another note I am having the nose warp as well. 

I am using the purple disappearing glue and no raft on an unheated platform 

Maybe i still havent dialed in my Z offset just right? the first layer is smooth and looks visually good.  

I am printing with MakerGeeks filament.

At work we print exclusively with that brand filament and it prints flawlessly on the makerbot replicator 2's at 210-215. Its good high quality filament.

I have included pictures of some of my recent attempts.

(the yellow parts are the first prints off a brand new sealed spool.)

The smallest print is one I canceled to check bed adhesion. (warped at the bow about a 1mm)

None of my prints have failed due to clogging. I just canceled them.  

My top finishes on my printer have not been great from day one. I have increased my roof thickness to 1mm after the green benchy shown and it helped a little but they arent perfect, still a little underextruded.

On the green print you can see a little of the infill issues.  

The last completed benchy off my printer 215 on the lower layers then upped to 218 after issues started to appear. It was doing pretty well till it started to retract and things went downhill from there.  it really underextruded  around the  holes on the bow.  

I am at a loss. I have no idea whats going on now.  

I've gotten excellent prints in the past on an ultimaker 2 with Cura and on makerbots. 

just not with this printer yet. 

-Scott

Side note: the E3D silicone socks will work in a pinch on the stock Lorei hotend with a little bit of trimming. They definitely help with the thermal runaway issues I've been having from the cooling fans dropping the hotend temp on the  lower layers.   

[Sandro]

Hi Scott, 

 you might want to have a look at this previous thread, I think you might have the same extruder over-heating problem mentioned there:

https://groups.google.com/d/topic/x-machines-3d-printers/rPZgHgbc2O8/discussion

Bob's idea with the fan is a good one.  If it's overheating you should look into checking the driver current and possibly lowering it to help run the motor cooler.

[Scott Roberts]

Alright, I'll give those ideas a try the next time I have a chance to work on my printer. 

I will be sure to update this thread with the results.

-Scott