Is there a tuning guide?

[MorbidSlowBurn]

As I am becoming more familiar with 3d printing I was wondering if there was a guide or FAQ on how to tune a machine. Topics I am curious on are:

Proper extruder temp and speed for material. I read people use different values for different manufactures how do you figure this out.

How to recognize worn parts. I know in genebs manual he show an example of what worn belts can do but are there other things to look for.

Daily checks. What are the checklists people do before they print each time or how often they check.

How to clean the extruder (other parts) without damaging them.

Any other topics that would be useful for someone new to this.

[Polygonhell]

FWIW once you've done the delta calibration, I think this guide though not for a rostock is a good description of how to do it "right"
http://www.tantillus.org/Tutorials.html
You'll have to ignore some of the printer specific stuff, but the approach of calibrate E, single wall test, 100% fill test is IMO the right way to go.

Proper extruder temp and speed for material.

Trial and error for the most part, when I change filament I'll print a couple of calibration pieces, and set the temperature to the lowest I can for a given speed such that the part doesn't easily delaminate.
I usually don't try and print really fast, I run perimeters at about 30mm/sec and infil somewhat higher, very high infill speed can cause quality issues because extrusion rate is dependent on pressure, not directly on input filament rate and that doesn't change instantaneously, so if you are printing infill MUCH faster than the perimeter you will see that the extrusion rate is slightly too high when the next perimeter starts.
At very low layer heights, you generally have to print hotter, and sometimes faster because there is a practical minimum speed you can reliably extrude at.

Daily checks. What are the checklists people do before they print each time or how often they check.

I just watch the first layer of every print, if it looks bad I figure out why, generally there isn't a lot of day to day maintenance to do.

How to clean the extruder (other parts) without damaging them.

Unless I have a PLA jam I try really hard to never have to clean my Nozzle. But I can see this being useful, the easiest place to damage the extruder is trying to remove the brass nozzle, do it when it's hot. I usually heat mine in the 170-180 range before attempting to unscrew it.
Buy some tiny drill bits that match your nozzle size,
If you are cleaning out PLA use a blow torch or similar to heat the nozzle (after removing it from the hotend) just enough to vaporize it, try not to anneal the brass in the process, it really doesn't need to be very hot.
If you are cleaning out abs soak in acetone.
In either case run the tiny drill bit through the nozzle orifice to make sure it's clean.
Inspect and if necessary replace the PTFE liner.

[MorbidSlowBurn]

Polygonhell, thank you that is what I was looking for. I wasn't looking for Rostock specific items like you mentioned but more just what you responded with. The link you posted looks like a good read. I will have to read it in full when I get a chance. You made a great point about trial and error on a known part. Now I am in quest for knowledge mode

[mhackney]

When first starting out, the secret to "trial and error" though is to take a scientific approach and only change one variable at a time! Many features of these printers are inter-related and changingmore than one thing can wreak havoc. That said, there are also times when optimizing a single parameter does not optimize the system. But it's been my experience if you can tune the major parameters you'll be in the ballpark to do the overall system tuning.

cheers,
Michael

[geneb]

There's a lot of what I do - face planting on the learning curve. I'm surprised that I haven't broken my nose yet.

If you find some tidbit you want to "immortalize", by all means let me know and I'll stick it in the manual with a credit to the submitter for it. The more data we get the easier it will be for those that come after us.

One thing I'm curious about is a method to eliminate the low frequency squeak that the gears in my extruder emit. I'm tempted to put a drop or two of 3in1 oil on the gear teeth to see if that'll shut it up, but I don't know if that's good for the gear material...

g

[MorbidSlowBurn]

Mhackney-
I will say I have been a little too ambitious with some of my adjustments so I have to remember the crawl-wall-run methodology. Basically started off trying to run. Now I know better I keep forgetting how new this technology is and that everyone is still learning.

Geneb-
It was my intention to try and get a centralized location for tuning. So that is why I asked the question. I was hoping there was something out there already. And with your gear squeak I would be hesitant of using any oil. Some plastics don't do we'll with them. IMO I would think a dry graphite would be ok as I use that when helping my nephews on there pinewood derby car wheels. Works wonders and doesn't destroy the plastic wheels. Not sure how it would do if it got into the bearings. If your squeak is coming from the bearings it may be they are too tight or not pressed all the way into the gear. I had a slight issue initially (wasn't a squeak), it was friction between the gears because I didn't seat the bearing all the way as was instructed by the video.

And if you do try graphite it can get everywhere. It pours out really quick if not careful. Not good to get it on or in electrical things.

[mhackney]

I'm actually working with gebeb to add calibration stuff to the Assembly Manual. Stay tuned!

Also, acetal that's used on the gears is fine to use light oil on. I do it all the time on my reels. However, I do not think that is the origin of the squeak (the teeth that is) but i wanted to hold off until I did a test before answering. I've now done the test and think I have a few culprits and realized why my previous 2 Steve's Extruders do not squeak and the one on my Rostock does!

And the culprit for the most likely reason the Steve's Extruder squeaks goes to...

The metal-to-metal contact points of the bolt axels to the aluminum spacers and to the bearings. In particular watch the bolt head of the central bolt axel. You will notice that the gear and outer bearing is rotating faster than the bolt head. There is the potential for a little intermittent contact there. I put a drop of oil on all the bearings and bolt heads and nuts (at their interfaces to the bearings) and the squeaks are now gone. I had not oiled my Rostock extruder but had my other two.

I also noticed that there is very little clearance between some of the gears face-to-face. A little lubrication or adjustment might help if that is the culprit.