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From all the "hairs" that I see I would guess that you used PLA. Those little nubs that stick out is probably where a retraction took place.
If it is PLA you could try to reduce your temperature a little.

Eaglezsoar wrote:From all the "hairs" that I see I would guess that you used PLA. Those little nubs that stick out is probably where a retraction took place.
If it is PLA you could try to reduce your temperature a little.

ABS, I just used the default settings that the program chose, it was 225 for the head.

How much can the temperature vary? If I run the PID autotune thing again would the temperature be more consistent?

Pingel wrote:

Eaglezsoar wrote:From all the "hairs" that I see I would guess that you used PLA. Those little nubs that stick out is probably where a retraction took place.
If it is PLA you could try to reduce your temperature a little.

ABS, I just used the default settings that the program chose, it was 225 for the head.

How much can the temperature vary? If I run the PID autotune thing again would the temperature be more consistent?

ABS is a different animal, the temperature at 225 is pretty much normal. You might try reducing your retractions to 4mm or so
and the speed 25 to 40.

Eaglezsoar wrote:

Pingel wrote:

Eaglezsoar wrote:From all the "hairs" that I see I would guess that you used PLA. Those little nubs that stick out is probably where a retraction took place.
If it is PLA you could try to reduce your temperature a little.

ABS, I just used the default settings that the program chose, it was 225 for the head.

How much can the temperature vary? If I run the PID autotune thing again would the temperature be more consistent?

ABS is a different animal, the temperature at 225 is pretty much normal. You might try reducing your retractions to 4mm or so
and the speed 25 to 40.

What are retractions and where would I edit them?
EDIT: I found this definition...
Many extruders will emit (ooze) plastic even when the extruder motor is not turning. To overcome this your slicing software needs to 'retract' the print medium during head movement when not printing. The retraction creates negative pressure within the hot end heating chamber which effectively sucks the print medium back up through the nozzle, stopping it from oozing.
And I found this in Tinyhead's build thread, http://repables.com/r/147/
Is there a guide somewhere to tweaking these settings?

The speed makes sense, I was was looking in other threads and found similar issues fixed with the speed.

If you are running Repetier host and Slic3r as the slicer, you would open the Slic3r and click on configure.
Once configure opens then click on Printer Settings, Extruder 1. There you will see the retraction settings.
Be sure to click on the box that looks like a floppy disk to save your settings.
There is a Slic3r manual at http://manual.slic3r.org/

Eaglezsoar wrote:If you are running Repetier host and Slic3r as the slicer, you would open the Slic3r and click on configure.
Once configure opens then click on Printer Settings, Extruder 1. There you will see the retraction settings.
Be sure to click on the box that looks like a floppy disk to save your settings.
There is a Slic3r manual at http://manual.slic3r.org/

Here's a minion I printed...

[img]http://i.imgur.com/R0ru2oo.jpg[/img]


I think it was around 6mm and I reduced it to 4mm and turned on wiping, the retraction speed also seemed high, it was well over 100 when I read somewhere that anything over 40 doesn't show much of a difference.

For the extruder steps per mm, if you extrude 10mm... is it 10mm into the hose or 10mm coming out of the hot end?

On the temperature of the hot end, mine constantly varies in a 10 degree window. If it's set at 228 for the print, during the whole print it will constantly go back and forth between 222 and 232. I really doubt this is normal and I have done the PID tuning a few times. Is there another test/calibration to do?

I tried changing the speed on the LCD of the printer and I was wondering if you slow down the speed, should you slow down flow too? Would it be better to use the feedrate speed slider in repetier-host?

Last one, are either of the fan shrouds required for ABS? I tried printing the PEEK one but I can't get it clean enough to fit the fan into and ending up breaking the casing on the fan. If it's required I'll make one now, sand it down and make the fan work, I'll order a new fan here in a bit.

EDIT: I ordered a couple more thermistors (I'm thinking I destroyed the one in the hot end) with 2 fans in case I break another one somewhere down the road.

I am going to answer only one of your questions because I don't feel I am expert enough to give the proper answers.
You asked if any of the fan shrouds are important for ABS and although the layer fan is not normally used with ABS
the Peek fan is the most important fan on the printer and should be running when the hotend is heating and should stay
on as long as the hotend has power. Without the Peek fan, you run the risk of melting the Peek section of your hotend and
it is not a matter of if it will melt the Peek section, it is when will it melt the Peek section. You should get that peek fan running
as soon as possible even if you have to hold it in place with bubble gum, it is that important. Please get it running before you do
any other printer, I do not want you to destroy your hotend.
As a side note, the layer fan is normally used with PLA and turns on after the first layer is printed. Some use it with ABS also, but
normally is not required with ABS.

Eaglezsoar wrote:Without the Peek fan, you run the risk of melting the Peek section of your hotend and
it is not a matter of if it will melt the Peek section, it is when will it melt the Peek section. You should get that peek fan running
as soon as possible even if you have to hold it in place with bubble gum, it is that important. Please get it running before you do
any other printer, I do not want you to destroy your hotend.
As a side note, the layer fan is normally used with PLA and turns on after the first layer is printed. Some use it with ABS also, but
normally is not required with ABS.

That's what I was thinking but I couldn't find a straightforward answer that lays it all out. Thanks! I'll do that first thing tonight.