Configuring e steps

3D Printing 3D Printers
1

I have been printing a few things that have shown signs of over extrusion with a Wanhao i3 v2.1 and PLA. Particularly something that had a 2x2mm hole in, that probably came out only 1.2x1.2mm and the rest of the base looked a bit squishy. A benchy had a bit of a squished out base and some roughness on one side.

I went through my usual extruder calibration technique, heated the extruder to 190, extruded about 15mm to prime the nozzle, measured 120mm from the top of the extruder then issued:
G91
G20 E0
G1 F100 E100

Once the flow stopped, measured the distance and it was spot on 20mm, brilliant, sounds perfect. However my current e steps is 107, which compared to other bits online sounds high.

Out of interest, I heated to 195 and tried again. Doing it twice, without changing the e steps, I was left with 30mm - clearly under extruding. The calculation says I should go to 118 for my e steps. Whenever I push it that high, I start getting all sorts of random results.

Does this all sound a bit high, or should I be using a different feed rate?

2

Hi there,

Could you post the calculation you’re using to confirm?

Also, you mention that when you push it high, you get random results, could you elaborate here? It’s possible the extruder is trying to push more material at once than it can handle, so slowing down might be the solution.

I would also recommend using a slightly different gcode to calibrate.
G91 E0
G1 F150 E100

This clears the extruder position to zero before extruding the 100mm, which I find to be a more reliable solution.