PLA Torture Test - Toolhead Development

I wanted to get back into PLA printing to learn more about the toolhead's thermal performance. I chose this skull pencil holder because it has a crazy amount of retractions.

I also wanted to see how our current micro Bowden setup does. Because of this, I used some Prusament that has been collecting dust since 2020, so it was very brittle and wet.

Conditions:

• 200% model scale
• 50k/50SCV on all features, 600mm/s requested, 1000mm/s travel
• 220/70°C (the thick bed and old PEI needed some temp to stick), the back of the chamber settled at around 40°C with an open door
• 0.4mm copper nozzle
• 0.015PA/0.02ST
• 0.4mm retractions @40mm/s
• only 7.8mm3/s average flow, 2.5-hour print
• 50% CPAP

Other than the impossible overhangs at a 200% model scale and the stringing due to the wet filament, everything went fine. There was no heat creep, no jams, and no underextrusion. So I think it was a great first PLA attempt with this toolhead.

The next time I'll try with a dried filament at a slightly lower temperature. Also, the minimum travel for retractions is the default 3mm in PS, maybe that's also not ideal.

If you guys have ideas for challenging models like this, let me know!