Charles,

First, I was surprised that for generously shared plans someone would complain about "stinginess".  ☺

Second, while I have not designed 3-D prints nor used a 3-d printer, my teenage son has several different kinds of 3-D printers at home and has done a lot of printing and troubleshooting with his.  From his descriptions, the vast majority of the time the issue is not the design and is not fixable by adjusting the STL file, but rather something with the printer.  For example, he has had to tweak the temperature depending on which brand (not just type) of filament he gets.  For some highly regarded plans, he had to bump the scale by 0.5% when nobody else did or things just wouldn’t fit.  He independently replaced the print head, the feeder and the bed to get more consistent prints because the stock ones were just not quite right.  

I guess what I'm saying is that in my observation, consistently successful 3-D printing -- like metalworking or carpentry (or photography, programming, precision driving, music, etc.) -- requires a nuanced understanding of your particular tools/equipment.  Well-designed tools/equipment will allow less knowledgeable users to produce better results with less knowledge, but 3D printers -- like automobiles in the 1920s -- are not quite there yet.  You might get pointed in the right direction from a website, but trial and error are more likely to be your teacher.

Good luck,   
Erich


On Saturday, January 6, 2024 at 11:35, Charles Meyer eloquently inscribed:

> Hi my esteemed listmates.
> 
> I hope you're all enjoying a good new year.
> 
> I'm visited with a continuing problem with 3D printing - stinginess.
> 
> I'm so grateful people designing and sharing their creations on Thingiverse.
> 
> It's so generous of them to do so.
> 
> I encounter from time to time stringiness and when I message a Thinfgiverse
> creator they're often busy creating for a living they don't always have
> time to brainstorm - perfectly understandable.
> 
> I was referred to a site which would display photos to describe what's
> wrong with prints so you can compare with what's wrong with your print.
> 
> But being able to describe what's wrong and fixing it are separate matters.
> 
> I'll read about stringiness and then find suggested solutions for an Ender
> or Creality but there isn't much help for a Lulzbot.
> 
> If anyone still uses or has used a Lulzbot Taz 6 and figured out how to
> correct stringiness I would so appreciate your suggestions.
> 
> I often use Cura to cut the gcode and there are a ton of settings so
> knowing which one(s) to change and to what to change the setting to is
> challenging and time consuming.
> 
> I'm not in Maker Sapce 8 hours a day as I can only grab time when it's
> slower in the library or I'm teaching a basic 3D class.
> 
> I imagine there are probably only 5-10 settings which affect stringiness?
> 
> I screen copied all the settings - Infil, Support, Speed and took 3 photos
> of what I see if anyone might  be willing to look at the photos and/or
> settings and suggest 1-2 adjustments to make that would be so appreciated.
> 
> Thank you so much.
> 
> Charles.
> 
> Charlotte County Public Library