"Printing orientation matters." Topic

Someone asked me on another thread why I printed the BTR60 in an upright orientation. Other than that was the way the render came form the designer I really didn't have a concrete answer. So I did an experiment using a M1A1. The one in silver was printed upright on its nose. The black one was printed horizontally in a standard running orientation. As you can see the silver shows much better detail as well as much less of the layering effect. Printing upright is a bit riskier since as the model grows the chance of slipping from the bed increases. Definitely need to use a brim.

I've seen that on Shapeways stuff too.

Identical 1/144th scale BRM minis, and one looks great, without striations, while the other one is much more prominent.

I wish the company would look at that, and print only via the best resolution output, instead of just randomly.

I have seen others print at an angle instead of 90degrees. Have you tried that as a comparison?

Not yet. Have to give that a try sometime.

Printing angle is very important. I'd encourage you to experiment with a number of different settings- layer size, print angle, and rafts and support vs. no rafts, temperature settings by material and more. I've found that playing with my printer yielded a far better understanding of what works best and what doesn't.

Recent DIY runs that needed different orientations to get the strength has so wen on my printer I can print 40 to horizontal without needing supports. With some AFV'S with slopes this means you may be able to orient to some extent which surfaces have steps. Never bothered at 0,1mm but maybe at 0,2mm it might help.