Printing Again!!!

Now that my brothers wedding is over and I have caught up on things that fell to the side, I have had some time to start printing again.  Since I was having some trouble with PLA before and some luck with ABS I thought I would work with the ABS for a while and see how things were working before trying to figure the PLA out.  The part I tested on was something I have been thinking about since I got my new Droid X.  The speaker is on the back and it does not carry the sound to the front very well, also I thought it would be nice to have a stand for it.  So I designed a dual purpose stand/sound director. (my first useful, non-reprap related, design.)

Here you can see the inlet hole for the sound (lower left)

A test print to check the fit on the phone (you can see the sound path)

24min 40sec to print

My first test print (slot for phone was too small and I had a de-lamination toward the bottom)

As you can see I am currently printing very well with ABS.  I could tune it in a little better but I am pleased with the results (especially with no heated bed...)

I think I may print a few more parts with ABS then go back to PLA and see if I can work out the bugs.

Mixed Emotions....

After several nozzle failures I have a design that seems very robust and made several acceptable prints.

But then more trouble...

Most of the PLA prints have decent shells but the infill is spotty at best.  The extrusion seems to just slow and stop then start again. I tried some ABS I had and that seemed to extruded a little better but the layers did not stick.  I think that is a setting issue but I have not tried adjusting that yet.

As far as the PLA goes I have now tried turning up the heat, down the heat, oiling the filament, manual feeding, adjusting the tension on the Wade's extruder, adjusting the current...  But no luck after the initial success.  The one good thing is that the new nozzle design has not fallen apart and seems very strong.

I have some more ABS so I plan to try adjusting the settings and seeing if I can get the ABS to extrude consistently. (Although I hate the smell and the warping issues with ABS, but I will live with them to diagnose my problem.)