So I played with all kinds of settings in PrusaSlicer. Nothing changed anything.
The only things that did improve the outcome some was:
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Forcing the letters to be printed first: then the letters are smooshed and bleed into the background instead of the other way round, which arguably looks better / more legible. Nothing to write home about though.
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Dropping the first layer’s height to 0.1mm (the other layers are 0.2mm high): that improves the letters a bit.
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Dropping the first layer’s height to 0.05mm: because the first layer is so thin, it becomes kind of translucent and the wider white letter beneath it sort of show through. The net result is that it drops a kind of gaussian blur onto the lettering, which actually improves them - especially at a distance.
Other than that, there’s just nothing for it. And half of the suggestions I got concern other slicers, and I couldn’t find them or equivalents in PrusaSlicer. Oh well…
I guess that’s as good as it’s gonna get.
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Make two separate parts in CAD. You can join them as separate shapes in a Parts Workbench compound or using the Mesh Workbench tools. Then upload the meshed file into the slicer. Empirically tune the gaps to suit your printer.
Just be absolutely sure that the two parts do not overlap in some intersection. The slicer will absolutely try to print twice in the same place.
Personally, I like to use manual inserts or layer changes. Print your text separately in one color. Recess the text in negative for a few layers. Then add a print pause where you drop the lettering into the designed voids and continue the print, letting the voids and bridging bond the inserted letters.
I was messing with a similar issue with my laptop GPU cover design from a few weeks ago. I wanted the layers to separate between the patterns and how the slicer was pathing . I did a bunch of tests and still need to print a final version but uploading the first layer as multiple compounded meshes is the solution.
If you design the 0,0 location of the parts so that they import into PS already aligned but as separate meshes, you can also use the elephants foot or other unique settings to manipulate how each section prints.
Make two separate parts in CAD. You can join them as separate shapes in a Parts Workbench compound or using the Mesh Workbench tools. Then upload the meshed file into the slicer. Empirically tune the gaps to suit your printer.
The letters are separate parts - well, bodies:
Basically I use the same shapestring to cut the letters into the shell and pad each letter as a separate body.
I thought about somehow pushing the lateral walls of the letter recesses in the shell outward to create a gap around the letter bodies, but I haven’t figured out how to do that smartly in FreeCad. I have a feeling I should work on them as meshes, but I’ve never used the mesh workbench. Is this what you’re suggesting?
Of course, I could also import the body in Blender and do that there.
Personally, I like to use manual inserts or layer changes. Print your text separately in one color. Recess the text in negative for a few layers. Then add a print pause where you drop the lettering into the designed voids and continue the print, letting the voids and bridging bond the inserted letters.
Wow I’ll have to re-read that when I’m fully awake: you totally lost me there 🙂
If you design the 0,0 location of the parts so that they import into PS already aligned but as separate meshes, you can also use the elephants foot or other unique settings to manipulate how each section prints.
They do import as separate bodies that are aligned. I did try messing around with settings in individual parts, but it didn’t do anything.
If you go to the Draft Workbench, there is a special Clone tool there and only there. Clones made in Draft can be resized in the data tab. This is super useful for creating offsets.
What I’m talking about with ‘alignment of parts so that they can be imported’ has more to do with complex assemblies. If you transform a Part Design body, and then build your thing in multiple bodies, they will be meshed in the local origin of the body’s 0,0 coordinate plane. I do this kind of thing a lot. I use a Part Design sketches/bodies/parts workflow almost exclusively. I have to be conscientious of building both parts on the same 0,0 origin.
So with inserts like I was mentioning before, think like the Prusa parts prints for the LCD surround on their printers where they are printing the letters in recessed voids.
Second, – a completely different technique. Think about how you can print a part and setup a void and pause in the middle of printing to insert a bearing or nut, then continue the print, thus embedding the object into the print.
Third, let’s combine these two concepts. You print the recessed lettering and a small void behind it, like with the Prusa print plus a void, and then add a pause to the print. Now you take another print that is only the positive lettering and small backing material. You insert this print as you would with a nut or bearing inserted into the paused print and continue the print. You could print the insert at the same time on the same build plate or print it separate in advance. This method also allows you to mix first layer bed textures, filament materials, or even patterns you design into the lettering to be inserted. Like you can print on glass and have gloss smooth lettering inserted into a print on a course bed texture. Or, look up CNC Kitchen’s guide on printing nearly optically clear PETG by fine tuning the settings. Then you can create lettering that can be lit from behind.
If you have trouble with first layer crispness, print the lettering face up and use ironing to get a flatter crisper edge.
Someone else mentioned a 0.2mm nozzle. They are not as slow as one might imagine. If you’ve never tried it, get one. I have a 0.25 and really like it. I use 0.6mm most of the time, but the 0.25mm is not just for cosmetic details. It will really push your understanding of wall thickness and infill strength. With Prusament PC blend, a 0.25mm nozzle is a lot of fun for designing small and putting materials only where they are needed. If you learn to use the Lattice 2 workbench for creating patterns, things get even more fun as you can skip infill all together and start creating more intentional structures in patterns quickly without bogging down FreeCAD. It is fun to transition into design-thinking in terms of single wall shells and connections. That is one step away from an intuitive grasp of flexures and compliant mechanisms. Like my present little Bluetooth enclosure design uses the flex of curved walls and the thickness of material to press a little dome button on the center of a PCB inside. I didn’t make any cutouts or separate parts to actuate. It is just the flex of the design. I spent today getting it ready to print with a 0.25mm nozzle and clear PETG too. Anyways, GL and happy printing.
Clones made in Draft can be resized in the data tab. This is super useful for creating offsets.
Yeah I’m aware of the resizable Draft clones. But in my case, it’s not helpful: in the case of the letter R for example, if I shrink it, the outside of the letter creates a gap but the inside of the letter invades the shell’s material. What’s needed here is moving surfaces inward - meaning outward vertical features move inward and inward vertical features move outward (and horizontal surfaces stay put) which is quite different from wholesale resizing.
You insert this print as you would with a nut or bearing inserted into the paused print and continue the print
I thought that’s what you meant. This is WAY too labor-intensive for my purpose: I print those tabs in batches of 256. I can’t imagine printing 256 tiny lettering inserts and manually placing them iin all 256 shells when the print pauses. That’s crazy!
Is this what Prusa does for their parts? They must be using slave labor or something. Then again, at the price their sell their wares, they can take a few minutes to manually insert parts into their prints…
If you have trouble with first layer crispness, print the lettering face up and use ironing to get a flatter crisper edge.
Face up looks very nice, even without ironing. The issue is, the shells have very thin (one line width) walls, and those would need support. That means carefully removing 256 supports for each batch of tabs, trying not to break the walls. Crazy amount of work. Not to mention, the wall’s height needs to be quite precise, and supports usually screws up with vertical dimensions bad, at least for the kind of precision I need here.
Someone else mentioned a 0.2mm nozzle. They are not as slow as one might imagine.
The real issue is, this is the company’s printer. It’s used for printing jigs and things. I’m really trying to avoid changing how it’s usually setup because I don’t want my colleagues and I to change the nozzles several times a day. Also, my boss thinks the markings as I print them now are good enough - which is true enough - so I can’t justify the expense of a smaller nozzle.
In short, I try to make the best of what the printer offers without modifying anything significant.
Yeah, then 2 parts and a gap is best. If you are not using Mesh WB, do so and manually mesh stuff. The default export mesh resolution is quite course by comparison.
Have you tried printing on a raft?
I have not, but I will today.
This is a resolution issue, so think about X & Y settings rather than Z settings like layer height. You need to reduce the line width and/or use a smaller nozzle like 0.2mm. You might also have a bit too much squish on your first layer which you could measure by printing a line and measuring it with calipers and comparing the slicer value to the actual value to see if there’s any difference.
I’m not familiar with PrusaSlicer but Bambu Studio has a wall generating setting called “Arachne” which does a better job of generating the small features/walls you need for text even with a 0.4mm nozzle. You might see if there’s a comparable setting for Prusa.
You’re correct. A 0.2mm nozzle would certainly improve things. But it would also make printing those tabs unbearably long.
I wish my company had bought a 5-head Prusa XL: then I could have loaded black PLA and white PLA in two heads with 0.2mm nozzles, and a separate feed of black PLA in a third head with a 0.4mm nozzle for the rest of the parts that don’t need to look nice. But… ours only has two heads and it’s 0.4mm on both, because all the other parts we prints just don’t need finer details.
Try reducing the line width especially for the initial layer. I googled about Arachne line generator and it looks like it’s the default wall generator in PrusaSlicer as of v2.5. I can’t tell if you’re using a textured build plate or not but you could also try swapping to a smooth one (or vice versa) and seeing if that makes any difference. You don’t even need to print the whole tab for testing, just the first few layers to see if you’re on the right track.
You could also try using a 0.2mm nozzle just for the white filament and seeing if that helps.
Super cool to see an update on this. Thanks for posting, since it will help the community!!
Just a thought: Try making the first layer of letters empty so the letter fill is actually a layer 2 bridge.
A trick I have done is printing the first layer solid in a transparent filament, then layer 2 as 2 color.
I recommended this on the first post, surprised they didn’t try it.
From the other post I remember you said that having the letters in the top layers didn’t work for you, because that meant a lot of support material to remove.
From what I understand, your product consists of two parts. The large part with the letters and a counter part, which is just a flat piece.
So why not put the letters in the flat piece? That way you can print them either way up.
So why not put the letters in the flat piece? That way you can print them either way up.
Good thinking!
In fact, that’s what I did first: the markings were on the lids rather than on the shells.
The problem is, because the lids are dovetailed, they’re narrower than the shells they dovetail into, so the width for the markings is reduced. meaning the letters need to be smaller, meaning they look even worse on the lids.
I would rotate the text 90 degrees so that it has the full length of the top tab, that should give you more room to work, and most humans can read rotated text.
Another suggestion would be to try a different font that works with the printing limitations: something curved like Exo 2 might be a little less of a fight.
I would rotate the text 90 degrees so that it has the full length of the top tab
Not an option I’m afraid, as I have to fit two lines of text.
Freecad in the wild! Love it.
Besides printing issues: If I were a user of these adapters I’d be fine with what you got - it’s readable, and I wouldn’t expect high definition on this.
Thanks!
Yes, they’re perfectly serviceable. I’d just like them to look more “professional” I guess, for my personal pride 🙂
Did you calibrate flow rate, retraction and z offset? Teaching Tech has a pretty thorough guide for all things calibration.
Fuck me retraction has done me dirty so many times, I’m convinced it’s just not worth it unless you’ve got a direct drive extruder
You mean you have turned it off completely? I used it with the stock E3v2 extruder and BMG in Bowden mode, and later with BMG in direct drive mode, without any retraction related problems and I think it’s the same for the majority of 3d printer owners. Perhaps your printer had some other issue, which only showed up in combination with retraction?
Yes I have, and it’s not even worth troubleshooting tbh, I’m not having any of the issues that having it on would fix
I was thinking you could inset the letter boundaries on the letters first setup, but it looks like you only get 2 walls out of the slicer. Maybe try setting it to not outline the walls at all in letter first mode?
I’m not sure if any of the tips will translate well to your project, but this is another project that worked with small lettering: https://youtu.be/e7K3BXWmipk
That being said, I printed this project, and the results were kinda ‘meh’ even after loads of manual cleanup. Probably one of the most tedious prints I’ve ever had to do.
So the guy printed throwaway first layer that he filed off to uncover nice- (or at least nicer-)printed letters underneath? Interesting concept. Too much time to spend on my little tabs though, since I make them by the bedloads for our many cables, but I like the idea.
Yeah, just building a single unit of these was mind numbing. If I had the money, I would’ve just bought premade buttons. I’ll never make one again.
Maybe play with the first layer line width.
I did. No difference whatsoever.
Weird, as narrower widths would logically make the squish less.
