Hi from Edwardsburg

[apex]

Hello everybody. Been watching the forum for a while and have made it to one of the Goshen Maker Space meetings.
Decided to take the jump and build the Rostock at the event in March. The more I see, the more interested I get.

I have seen some great prints from the Rostock MAX machine. I do have a few questions about minimum feature size and what is the max unsupported printable angle you can make.

For example if I wanted to print something like the part in the picture below, typically what would be reasonable wall angles and what kind of text dimensions would be legible?
I am sure the wall thickness plays a part, but just trying to get a rough idea. The part in the image is 2.5"x2.5"x1.8".
Thanks,
Jim

[Polygonhell]

You can actually print fairly severe overhangs with enough cooling, but I'd stay below 45 degrees for the most part.
Support is always an option, but tends to mar the surface when removed.
As to text size, on a vertical wall you can probably get away with 0.02mm or less though at that angle you'd probaly want to be at least one layer height, say 0.25mm.

[apex]

That's pretty slick, I can understand how material gaps could be that small, but thought the extruded plastic would be laid done much wider and limit feature widths.

I've not done a lot, but have had parts made on SLA, Objet, Projet, and FDM machines. Your Makerbolts look as good as most of the parts I've had made, especially the FDM. I assume/hope you made them on the Rostock Max.

Thanks for the reply.

[Polygonhell]

Yes the extrusion width is going to be about the same as the nozzle diameter, but the X/Y positional accuracy is much better than that, assuming the walls are at least 2x the extrusion width, you'll get the features.
Yes the maker bolts were printed on a RostockMax, I'm very happy with mine, if it's your first 3D printer though, don't expect any of the hobby level printers to be load model and press print, they all require careful calibration to get good results and that takes time.

[apex]

OK, that's what I thought. So the min feature width is theoretically twice the nozzle diameter (horizontal) and one layer thickness(vertical). The min gap width is between 0.02mm (horizontal) and one layer thickness(vertical).
Thanks for the warning on the calibration. I have to admit, I could have used that 20 years ago.
I was just wondering what kind of capability people have attained.
Thanks again.