[bhdavis1cnc]

How to speed up a 3D print ?

I'm 3D printing lots of parts similar in nature to what I'm showing in the three images below. These are hollow on the inside with an approximately 1/4" thick wall. I'm printing with ABS on a Flashforge Adventurer 3 printer.

The parts are made 100% solid. To do that I just set my shell thickness at 50 layers and subsequently get no internal honeycomb.

I've got this down and the parts come out quite nice and very strong. Only issue is the time frame. It takes 2 hours 22 minutes each to make them. And I make dozens of them.

I'm wondering if someone more experienced than me could make some suggestions that might speed up the print time while not sacrificing the appearance and strength.

I know I'm not showing all the settings but I thought posting screen shots of all the settings could get a little burdensome. So please ask to see the details of any settings that you feel come into play and I'll get that up.

Thanks,
BH

Attachment 502562

[metalmayhem]

I've got the flashforge creator pro and the best way to speed it up was to add .8mm nozzles . flash print defaults to a .4mm nozzle and there is no way to change the nozzle size but there is a trick you can do in the settings to use the 8mm . It's been a year and a half since I turned my printer on and I can't remember off hand the setting to change but a google search for .8mm with flash print should come up with what you'll need

[RaderSidetrack]

I'm bumping this thread -- the issue that was previously preventing "normal" functioning of this thread has been identified and programming modified to prevent recurrence. The temporary 'workaround' threads have been removed and the various messages moved to this consolidated thread.

So there should not be issues in the future.

[bhdavis1cnc]

Thanks. Glad it was sorted.

Update: I believe I've resolved the speed issue with the purchase of a Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro. It runs significantly faster and hotter, plus has a bunch of options for material specific build plates. It comes today and I'm looking forward to learning all its features. My old Adventurer 3 has many hours on it and a pro-active replacement was probably in order.

BH

[peteeng]

Hi Davis - Since you make many of these and they are solid ABS - its quicker & probably cheaper to have them machined. Peter

[bhdavis1cnc]

Hi Davis - Since you make many of these and they are solid ABS - its quicker & probably cheaper to have them machined. Peter

I tried outsourcing the 3D printing. They did a lousy job. All were functional but looked awful. It has an internal dome that needs to be laid out carefully without supports.

As to machining them out of solid ABS I looked into the costs. I could actually do it on my CNC router but the ABS sheet stock is so costly that I would actually lose money on the deal. Plus I can turn on the 3D printer and walk away. Machining these on the CNC would require me to be at the machine making sure all went well. So there is also the time factor to consider.

But thanks for the suggestion.

I ran the first one on the new printer last night and time was down from 2 hours and 22 minutes to 44 minutes. And while the outside surface was just about identical to the old printer the inside dome was noticeably smoother. So the results were faster and better.

I could never get multiples to print successfully on the old printer. I think the material was cooling too much going from one part to another as the layers built up. I'm thinking with the higher heat and speed of the 5M Pro though I might be able to go up to three at a time. I will try that soon.

Thanks everyone for the input. Very much appreciated.