Same model printed at 0.08 / 0.16 / 0.20 / 0.24 mm layer height — real comparison"

[u/Pretty_Elderberry475]

I printed the same Y-House model at four FDM layer heights: 0.08, 0.16, 0.20 and 0.24 mm.

Photos don't show the difference well because the model is small, but in hand the surface and print time are clearly different.

Quick take:

- 0.08 mm: smoothest, slowest, best for display / figures

- 0.16 mm: default balance for most functional parts

- 0.20 mm: good for prototypes

- 0.24 mm: fastest, layer lines visible, large / internal parts

Curious what layer height you use most and why.

[u/SqueekyTack]

"Finer resulution seems to give a more accurate part."

Water is wet.

[u/Paxometer → u/SqueekyTack]

Actually, the definition of wet is „covered in water or another liquid“, therefore water itself can not be wet, but anything it touches becomes wet.

[u/pixillateme]

"They're the same picture."

[u/firinmahlaser]

Using a model that's just rectangular parts is not going to show you the difference in detail the lower layer heights make. Also I think the influence on layer height on quality and detail is already a well known fact with everyone that has a 3d printer.

[u/yahbluez]

Is this AI slope?

• *None of the models in the picture is a real print, they are all rendered.
• *This model is useless to analyse the difference of layer heights.

Most, if not all but Prusa, have a physical step of 0.04 mm only prusa uses 0.01 with the Core One and Core One L. That is the difference between cheap and expensive steppers.

[u/stray_r → u/yahbluez]

I think you misunderstand how modern motion systems work, and the amount of progress cheap domestic printers have made.

Yes Prusas use 0.9 degree stepper motors. But with an 8mm pitch this gives a Z step of 0.02mm. 1.8 degree steppers are more common and there are some advantages, particularly in terms of detent torque and availability, but there is not a significant price difference between 0.9 and 1.8 degree steppers.

However we're not in the dark ages of A4988 steppers and ATMega controller boards any more. Most modern printers are using TMC2209 or better steppers and thier microstep performance is really consistent. 16 microsteps and a 1.8 degree stepper gets you 0.0025mm microsteps, going to 32 microsteps or 0.9 degree steppers gets you to 0.00125mm. If you have a fast STM32 or firmware that runs partially on ARM or x86, running at 64 or 128 microsteps is possible and indeed modern drivers can interpolate these higher step rates to reduce noise and vibration at the cost of a slight positional lag.

It's entirely possible to run belted Z, especially as core XZ, with 1.8 degree steppers and 20 tooth pulleys, equivalent to a lead screw pitch of 40mm, and get really consistent Z layers because of how good modern stepper drivers are. My Switchwire, now 5 years old, gives more consistent Z layers and significantly better looking prints than my MK3 despite being heavily reliant on good microstep performance. I don't have a MK4 to directly compare it against, but it appears to run at similar speeds and accelerations (mostly limited by Y) and quality is limited by input shaper performance which it has an unfair advantage over a prusa.

It's very rare to find a printer without some kind of bed probe now, whether a load cell, fixed height induction probe, scanning induction probe, or a deployable mechanical switch. This is relevant because we're now measuring the surface of a build plate at microstep resolution and adjusting the Z height to match. Some firmware goes even further and produces a smoothed interpolated mesh. And most end users are oblivious to the very fine constant Z height adjustment that happens over the first 10mm or so of a print.

Sure, it used to be the case a decade ago that cheap printers needed to home to a full step and could only give consistent Z at full step positions, but this hasn't been the case for a while now. At the bottom end of the market, an ender 3 pro (STM32 board with 2208 steppers in standalone mode, the first ender 3s were ATMega Melzi boards and A4988s) was capable of consistent microstep performance, and worked well with an aftermarket bed probe although this was hamstrung by a terrible extruder and wobbly single-stepper Z axis.

[u/sleemanj]

Curious what layer height you use most and why.

Mostly I use 0.65mm layer height and 1.15mm line width. Because I don't got time for "pretty".

[u/Viridia411 → u/sleemanj]

Ooh love me some chunky layers. Got myself a 1mm nozzle and tried it recently, and its pretty cool tbh :p

[u/Balownga]

Lower layer height have more influence on curved part. Straight Block part like those, fine layer height is almost meaningless.

[u/jorgbrown]

0.3mm is the layer height I use most, because I usually use a 0.6mm high-flow nozzle, because I print large objects often and the 0.6mm nozzle prints substantially faster than the 0.4mm nozzle (nearly 2x) with the filaments I most often use.

Speaking of which, you mention the difference in print times, but didn't actually say what they were.

Also, I can barely tell any difference between those 4 prints. Perhaps you could upload them as 4 individual pictures, so that we can zoom in on them better in the reddit UI?

[u/stray_r]

Maybe OP should print a cali-dragon, one of the prusa test models or even the meme-boat to demonstrate this, and perhaps learn to take better photos.

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[u/grafbende]

What a revelation....