3 May 2013

Todays result: Cooling cones

I have been using specifically designed cones to lengthen print times without decreasing the actual printing speed.

Models with a small amount of material in one vertical section can print rapidly over the same spot. This builds up heat in the part and leads to warping. This occurs frequently at the very tops of prints. Slicer and Cura have print speed limiting settings but I have found this changes the consistency of prints and appears as visually discontinuous vertical regions.

The cones are wider at the bottom with a single layer base for stability. Thin tall columns eventually get knocked over and make a mess. The cones are thin with holes cut in the sides as the delay comes from making the head move and not wasting extra material. By placing cones as far as possible from the object once per layer the print head will need to take time traveling to the cone then back again. This adds a cooling period between layers and gives the part a chance to solidify.

The model is a OpenSCAD file. The height and width can be changed. The height should be set to the same height as the part. Increasing the width slightly increases the delay, uses more material and may take up more room.

To use set the height of the cone then include the model with the object to be printed. Place the object and cone in opposite print bed corners. More delay can be achieved using multiple cones. I prefer placing the cone in the corner closest to [0, 0, 0], this will make it the first item printed on the first layer.

The OpenSCAD file is available here.



 Various cone from past prints.

 Cone used to print Carcassonne Cathedral

 Cone plated with Mendel90 x_motor_bracket