Temperature testing.



  • Having bought a different colour filament and finding it to optimise at a much different temperature, I am moved to wonder what is the best or easiest way to tell if the extruder temperature is right?
    I know that if it is too hot, then you get stringies and if it is too cold then I guess it doesn't hold together, but are there are any good prints designed to test these points?

    I imagine that stringiness is also a factor of print head movement and not just temperature: presumably we want a model that causes movements with the maximum of stringiness so we can adjust the temperature to minimize it.

    I'm not sure how best to devise a test for being too cold: I don't think I've hit that problem yet. :?



  • If you go too cold you will get poor layer adhesion (the layers will easily peel apart from each other) and you will also start having problems extruding.

    If you go too hot, the filament will burn and clog your hot end.

    Although it's true that stringing is affected by temperature, the primary mitigation for stringing is retraction. See our guide on dialing in your retraction settings. When choosing a temperature, you should make sure you are getting good flow first, and worry about stringing later.

    Speed and temperature are also closely related. The faster you try to print, the hotter you will need to go. We have an article on this concept as well.



  • Some people eh? Put out a few successful prints and they think they've got the hang of it... 😉

    I had assumed it was temperature related because a print that worked well before came out really badly in the new colour and that was the only thing that had changed (at least AFAIK). The results were the kind of mess that I'd (wrongly?) learned to associate with running too hot.

    Clearly there is more to this 3D printing lark than it appears: I reckon it will be a fair while before they get as popular as 2d printers...


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