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Is this normal - both rolls of PLA are from the same manufacturer
Yup
Every filament brand is different and different colors print at different temps. For instance I have to print eSUN about 10* warmer than Hatchbox and I have to print orange filament about 15* cooler than most colors.
 
The amount of options in Cura is mind boggling!

I've enabled the comb option you mentioned, raised print temp to 210 degrees and levelled the bed more carefully and so that the nozzle is closer to it. Also used a fresh mat with no glue. Let's see how this LCD lid prints...
 
There’s a torture test you can get from thingiverse that sets the temp at different heights of a ladder to see what temp gives you the best settings
 
Awesome, thanks! Shall give it a go.
 
20% in and this print is looking gorgeous. No lifting and I didn't have to apply glue.
 
Second attempt at printing the cps2 LCD lid. Temp increased to 210. No glue.

Heaps better than the first attempt. Structurally sound and an impressive finish for a budget printer.

Only blemish is some white stains on the side that faces the print mat.

I used a brand new mat. Maybe there was some contaminant on it and I should have cleaned it first?

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Here's some shots of the F3 LCD holster - default settings in Cura for Balco 3D.

Temps : 70 bed, 208 head.
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Close-up of corner detail.
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Any suggestions on how to get a smoother finish and so you can't see the pattern of the infill?
 
well it looks like you have what's called "ringing" which is where you see the outline of the part reflected further down the surface. A lot of times this is down to the stepper motor acceleration and jerk settings in the firmware or just vibrations from the design of the printer. You might not be able to do much about that given the printer design and the fact that the firmware is likely pretty well tuned (maybe? maybe someone has a better updated firmware you can swap to?)

You can try lowering your print speed for parameters. generally that will help solve minor defects like that.

as for the issues in the corners, this might be helped with lower parameter print speed, or adjusting your extrusion multiplier. I usually run between 98% and 100% on the multiplier (or 0.98 and 1.00 depending on how it's set in cura) a lower multiplier will give less visible layer lines on the parameter, but go too low and you'll end up with less overlap between the print lines which will cause your part to become more brittle.

definitely something where you'll have to find a happy medium.

if you have some calipers measure your filament and make sure it's actually 1.75mm if it's slightly thicker or slightly thinner that will throw off the multiplier.
 
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Look at us all printing twistedsymphony's awesome designs!

I'm going to try the top half of the LCD case again tonight.

I'm confident that once I learn more about the Cura settings and work out what to set them at I'll start spitting out decent quality prints.
 
I'm confident that once I learn more about the Cura settings and work out what to set them at I'll start spitting out decent quality prints.
Cura is amazing now compared to what it used to be. It helps that they're funded by Ultimaker so they have a constant stream of funding to make it a better product year after year.

One newer feature in Cura (an only in Cura) that I haven't had a chance to try is "ironing" it's supposed to heat up the nozzle and use it to smooth the top surface of parts it'd be good to use on something like my GDEMU or Rhea trays where there's a large visible top-surface.

I use Simplify3D which is a licensed slicer. when I bought it It was considerably better than Cura, In some respects it is still better, and there are some things it can do that Cura can't, but there are a lot of features that Cura has now that S3D doesn't. I do like the quality of the prints I get out out S3D better than Cura but I think a lot of that has to do with my having tweaked the settings over the course of a couple years where my Cura setup has the important stuff adjusted but a lot of the minor settings still need fine tuning.

One thing I've learned about 3D printing is that there is TONs of information out there and when it comes to tuning your printer or your prints, most of the information is just mis-informed people throwing out guesses or repeating stuff they heard elsewhere. it's like trying to get health or relationship advice online <X Generally what you have to do is take people's advice with a grain of salt and just experiment to see how things go
 
Second attempt, better than the first attempt in most areas. Seem to have this white discolouration which I'm not sure what the cause is. Maybe I'll try 205 degrees for my next print.

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So printed out the LCD shell. I still have a few adjustments to do the improve the output but I'm reasonably happy I can dial it in to be better than this.

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Got creative and mounted the LCD case in a spot that I like. Had to assemble my own cable to do it, used rainbow cable as I like the pretty colours. Assembled one end of the cable, fed the bare ribbon wire through the vent then completed the assembly by crimping on the last plug.

Haven't secured it down as yet but will do so once I decide on a colour that I like. Really need to get some green filament. Cleaned out Aldi of the last rolls they had of black, orange and slate grey as they were heavily discounted.

Slate grey looks cool:

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