Maker Geek's Raptor PLA
Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 7:53 pm
Has nobody else used this yet?!?!
Ok, first off, I'll admit that I haven't done a ton of printing and (in all honesty) have really only dealt with ABS. In fact Maker Geeks Raptor series PLA is the only PLA I've ever printed, but all I can say is WOW!!!
I've been stuggling through trying to get my printer calibrated the last couple of weeks. I'm currently running the SeeMeCNC Accellerometer mounted atop an E3d V6 hotend (with the new thermistor and silicon boot. BTW I am in LOVE with the boot! Why doesn't every hotend come with these?!) I got one of the Maker Geeks Mystery packs, since I really wanted to try PETG (since I thought it would be a better fit for the stuff I printed, mostly mechanical parts and what not) and I selected a roll of PLA and Raptor PLA as the other two.
Anyway, I've been printing for almost a week solid with some old Hatchbox Red ABS while I've been attempting to perfectly calibrate my printer. As of last night I can say I've pretty much got it there (and in the process really nailed the print settings for this particular ABS, Btw). A 50mm and 100mm test box both come out within less than a tenth of a mm of the correct dimensions... for awhile anyway. I measured the parts, was happy, came back a few hours later and measured again (on a lark), and completely face palmed myself when I remembered Abs Has a pretty significant shrink factor. On the second measure I was out to about .15-.2mm short on my measurements. That's when I decided to load up the Raptor PLA (in Vivid Green) since PLA has minimal shrink and the Raptor PLA is a fairly high temp filament that's suppose to be much stronger/more thermally resistant than normal PLA.
First things first, I cut off about a meter of filament and then cut off a second meter, which I then measured in 11 different spots with a digital caliper. My average came out to 1.751. Pretty dang good. Definitely check, though since I've read elsewhere (though not too recently) of some ovoid filament getting shipped. Next I ran the filament into the printer and heated the nozzle to 205. I then tried to extrude 10mm, yet all it did was click the extruder. I kept bumping in 5 degree increments until it finally extruded at around 220 degrees. Maker Geeks recommended 245 degrees, so I split the difference and decided to try it at 230. They also say to heat the bed anywhere from 0-60. I left the bed off and laid down some masking tape. I finally tweaked the filament profile in Matter Control to run the PLA. Other than temps, I pretty much left the retract settings the same as my ABS. 1.5mm at about 40mm/s and the extrution multipler at .95.
I think I hit the sweet spot off the bat! I quick sliced a 50mm test box with the built in slicer at .2mm layer height and printed. It came out to be almost dead on at 50mm square give or take .05mm. The print wasn't completely perfect interms of top layer or details, but I blame that on matter slice. I then threw a part for a BB-8 droid (that I plan to print this summer) into Cura 2.5. After adding the filament profile and tweaking a few settings. I set layer height to .1mm and printed. Here is what I got: (note this is the second ever print I have done with this PLA, Or any PLA, for that matter!)
https://goo.gl/photos/mmaR7hqPEWPfbgPH8
https://goo.gl/photos/n8kdEFE5SRcPcCvJ9
There are still a few spots for improvement, but when you consider the size of the part details, printing with a .4mm nozzle, and the very limited amount of setup I've done with this filament I'm flat astounded!! Oh... and I don't even have a layer fan hooked up atm! There were some very minor zits and very light stringing, but overall very clean! can't wait to dial this in and run a few more prints through. When I do, I'll report back with a full list of the settings I've found to work best.
For the TL:DR crowd... This stuff is AWESOME. Give it a try!
Ok, first off, I'll admit that I haven't done a ton of printing and (in all honesty) have really only dealt with ABS. In fact Maker Geeks Raptor series PLA is the only PLA I've ever printed, but all I can say is WOW!!!
I've been stuggling through trying to get my printer calibrated the last couple of weeks. I'm currently running the SeeMeCNC Accellerometer mounted atop an E3d V6 hotend (with the new thermistor and silicon boot. BTW I am in LOVE with the boot! Why doesn't every hotend come with these?!) I got one of the Maker Geeks Mystery packs, since I really wanted to try PETG (since I thought it would be a better fit for the stuff I printed, mostly mechanical parts and what not) and I selected a roll of PLA and Raptor PLA as the other two.
Anyway, I've been printing for almost a week solid with some old Hatchbox Red ABS while I've been attempting to perfectly calibrate my printer. As of last night I can say I've pretty much got it there (and in the process really nailed the print settings for this particular ABS, Btw). A 50mm and 100mm test box both come out within less than a tenth of a mm of the correct dimensions... for awhile anyway. I measured the parts, was happy, came back a few hours later and measured again (on a lark), and completely face palmed myself when I remembered Abs Has a pretty significant shrink factor. On the second measure I was out to about .15-.2mm short on my measurements. That's when I decided to load up the Raptor PLA (in Vivid Green) since PLA has minimal shrink and the Raptor PLA is a fairly high temp filament that's suppose to be much stronger/more thermally resistant than normal PLA.
First things first, I cut off about a meter of filament and then cut off a second meter, which I then measured in 11 different spots with a digital caliper. My average came out to 1.751. Pretty dang good. Definitely check, though since I've read elsewhere (though not too recently) of some ovoid filament getting shipped. Next I ran the filament into the printer and heated the nozzle to 205. I then tried to extrude 10mm, yet all it did was click the extruder. I kept bumping in 5 degree increments until it finally extruded at around 220 degrees. Maker Geeks recommended 245 degrees, so I split the difference and decided to try it at 230. They also say to heat the bed anywhere from 0-60. I left the bed off and laid down some masking tape. I finally tweaked the filament profile in Matter Control to run the PLA. Other than temps, I pretty much left the retract settings the same as my ABS. 1.5mm at about 40mm/s and the extrution multipler at .95.
I think I hit the sweet spot off the bat! I quick sliced a 50mm test box with the built in slicer at .2mm layer height and printed. It came out to be almost dead on at 50mm square give or take .05mm. The print wasn't completely perfect interms of top layer or details, but I blame that on matter slice. I then threw a part for a BB-8 droid (that I plan to print this summer) into Cura 2.5. After adding the filament profile and tweaking a few settings. I set layer height to .1mm and printed. Here is what I got: (note this is the second ever print I have done with this PLA, Or any PLA, for that matter!)
https://goo.gl/photos/mmaR7hqPEWPfbgPH8
https://goo.gl/photos/n8kdEFE5SRcPcCvJ9
There are still a few spots for improvement, but when you consider the size of the part details, printing with a .4mm nozzle, and the very limited amount of setup I've done with this filament I'm flat astounded!! Oh... and I don't even have a layer fan hooked up atm! There were some very minor zits and very light stringing, but overall very clean! can't wait to dial this in and run a few more prints through. When I do, I'll report back with a full list of the settings I've found to work best.
For the TL:DR crowd... This stuff is AWESOME. Give it a try!