Calibration box

thingiverse

I created this for dialing in a 3d printer whether that be a new printer, a new material, or just want to recalibrate your existing printer. I've always had problems printing solid infill vs thin wall parts, but not anymore! Just print with 100% infill, adjust the settings, rinse and repeat. The flow/speed settings are commonly adjustable in real time so that can help once you get on the right track. The thin walls are 0.5mm, 1mm, and 1.5mm respectively. The solid part is 15mm x 20mm. This also reveals some printer limitations (mainly the frailty of the 0.5mm wall and layer bonding strength) that you can understand and take advantage off in future designs. Some tips: If the extruder is making a clicking noise, you are trying to push too much material through the nozzle too fast. Reduce the speed, flow, or both. Make >1 loops/perimeters. This lets you gauge the closeness of the loops to adjust your extrusion width. Extrusion width is NOT your nozzle diameter. As far as I can see, it can't really be measured. If the loops have a small gap between them, try reducing the width and vise-versa if they are overlapping. You won't be able to accurately gauge the flow (you can get good starting ballpark settings though) for the first ~10 or so layers as you will see so don't rely on the lower levels for the entire calibration. Adjustments to height for good first layer adhesion can be more precise than 0.1mm and sometimes require it. Try 0.05mm/0.01mm adjustments and watch your printer interface software to see if it shows the finer Z values.