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Cooling and Layer Times |
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Tuning |
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PLA
- PLA is very resistant to cooling. For the most part - the more cooling, the better.
Excessive cooling can moderately reduce part strength, however.
ABS & Other Shrinking Materials
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People often start printing by ABS with no cooling. While this is valid advice for unenclosed printers, it's not a universal rule. ABS often needs some cooling, especially in an enclosure.
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You probably need higher fan speeds than you think.
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The higher your chamber temperature is, the higher fan speeds you will need.
- For example I run AB-BN (5015 fan mod) and have a 63C chamber.
- For large plates, I use 40-50% fan.
- For small plates, I may use up to 80% fan.
- For single small objects, I may use up to 100% fan.
- For example I run AB-BN (5015 fan mod) and have a 63C chamber.
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I generally recommend using constant fan speeds when possible. Varying fan speeds during a print will cause inconsistent layers and banding. Otherwise some layers cool and shrink faster than others.
- For very large objects, however, you may want to be more conservative with cooling. Large objects are much more prone to warping.
- This is the only time I might use differing fan speeds. Lower fan speeds for the majority of the print, with higher fan speeds for overhangs.
- For very large objects, however, you may want to be more conservative with cooling. Large objects are much more prone to warping.
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If your prints are curling away from the bed even at low fan speeds, it may actually be a 📄 build surface adhesion issue.
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This can be forced in the slicer using "minimum layer time" / "layer time goal" / "slow down if layer print time is below". This will slow down your print speed to ensure each layer takes at least X amount of time.
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These settings are located under filament > cooling settings in PS/SS.
- You can use ctrl+f to find settings by name.
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I set this to a minimum of 15 seconds for ABS. For unenclosed filaments (PLA/PETG), you can generally use lower.
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This essentially slows down the print for very short/small layers, allowing each layer adequate time to cool.
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When layer times are too short, they do not have enough time to properly cool. You will then be printing on top of layers that are still soft.
- You can achieve this by printing more objects at once, and spreading them out.