How do you fix size issues? Prints come out too small.

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WoodMill
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How do you fix size issues? Prints come out too small.

Post by WoodMill » Wed Jun 26, 2019 7:08 am

I've struggled with this ever since I got my printer. And I've looked up info on trying to fix this and nothing seems to work. The thing I keep seeing though is that it's probably shrinkage. And I'm pretty sure it's not that. At least to the extent I'm getting.

So for example, when I was finishing up my GBZ, the additionals XY buttons just weren't able to press down on the rubber conductor enough. So I printed some small disks to put inside of the button to help. I measured the inside of the button as 6mm. So I printed out a disk 6mm wide. It came out too small by about 1/3. I know it's not shrinking, because I watched it print the very few vertical layers on the glass plate with hairspray. There was no sign in the hair spray that they shrunk.

I then guessed and increased the disk size to 8mm, and it ended up fitting perfectly.

So why are my prints not accurate? I've tried helper disks, rafts, brims, supports, everything.

The one thing I keep thinking is that I have a MonoPrice Dual extruder and using Simplify3D software. I've selected a FlashForge printer as it was supposed to be the same. My question is, could it be possible that the print bed dimensions are actually different and could cause a printed piece to be printed smaller? So lets say for example that the FF bed is 9x6, but mine is 8.5x5.5. Would the printer see that and scaled it down?

Just wish there were some automatic calibrations built in.
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Re: How do you fix size issues? Prints come out too small.

Post by waffe » Wed Jun 26, 2019 10:44 am

I saw this thread on the simplyfy3d forums : https://forum.simplify3d.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6130. Perhaps it might help? Or you could try using cura and see if there is a difference. (Also the filament may cause the shrinking).

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