Mike's 3D Printing Notebook

My notes, configurations, upgrades, and links for printing with my Anycubic Mega-S printer.

Firmware

Firmware has been upgraded to Knutwurst's Marlin 2.0.x with custom Anycubic adaptations:

• Knutwurst's i3 MEGA Firmware based on Marlin 2.0.x

Important: Marlin 2.0.x sends 12V to the part cooling fan instead of the original 9V. The part cooling fan speed should be set to 75% in slicer settings to compensate unless additional cooling is desired.

Slicing

I almost exclusively use PrusaSlicer. Below is a link to my configurations and settings.

• PrusaSlicer Config & Info

Printer Upgrades

• kuehmayer upgrade guide
• renba upgrade guide
• petrzmax upgrade guide

Things

My Thingiverse Page:

• Things I've designed
• Things I've printed
• My Collections

Filament

Filament Experiences

Lessons learned

• Temperatures

  • PLA: 185ºC tool and 60ºC bed
  • PLA+: 200ºC tool and 60ºC bed. At 185ºC PLA+ has trouble adhering to previous layers.
  • PLA with flecks, sparkles, etc: 210ºC tool and 60ºC bed. At lower temps, the nozzle may clog.
  • PETG: 235ºC tool and 90ºC bed for the first layer, then 225ºC & 80ºC to prevent stringing.

• Layer height

  • About 50% of nozzle diameter is ideal (e.g. 0.2mm with a 0.4mm nozzle). Can go up to 75% of nozzle size pretty safely, but layers may not adhere as well.

• Perimeter Width

  • Slicers generally use a default extrusion width of 1.125 × nozzle diameter (i.e. 0.45mm for a 0.4 mm nozzle).
  • Wider extrusion (through squishing the filament) will print faster. Widths up to around 1.5x nozzle diameter are safe (e.g. 0.6mm wide with a 0.4mm nozzle).
  • Slightly tweaking extrusion width can help eliminate thin gap-fill lines, e.g. when a wall is not an even multiple of nozzle width.

• Corners

  • Right angles require the print head to come to a complete stop when turning. This can cause filament to ooze, creating a bulge in the corner. Options:
    • Design with slightly rounded corners so the print head doesn't need to stop.
    • Print perimeters more slowly so the change in speed at corners is less drastic.
    • Use high acceleration/jerk values (in firmware and/or slicer) to reduce the time the print head spends in the corner. However this can cause other artifacts, such as ringing / ghosting since it causes backlash in the print head carriage.

• Elephant Foot

  • The first layer tends to expand slightly more than other layers, leading to a slight bulge at the bottom of the print. Setting Elephant Foot Compensation to 0.1mm or 0.2mm will shrink the first layer slightly to compensate for this.