More Artist D grief

Been trying to get my Artist D Pro tuned back in. From horrendous stringing, I finally got it dialed to this point:

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Opinions please. I’m thinking it might be periodic underextrusion. Yesterday, when I disassembled the left hotend (the 1 that printed these 2 models), I did notice that the brass toothed gear in the extruder was showing some wear, so I moved it over a bit. Still, the results are iffy at best. I’m thinking of finding steel toothed gears to replace the brass ones.

I had the same problem on a different printer. For me it turned out to be the filament sensor runout was creating too much drag on the filament and retraction speed was too high. but it looked exactly like your pictures. So sorry you’re having such trouble.

Unfortunately, I’m not using the run-out sensor.

Unfortunately, Artist D 3d printers do not seem to improve with time. Over time more and more issues are coming up with this printer. I had high hopes for it when I first reviewed it, but my overall impression of the IDEX space has suffered, as I mentioned in another post. As a result, I am no longer excited about these printers for most hobbyists—fun for a while but then more trouble than they are worth.

In the case of the Artist D, the extruder design is a problem. The extruders on my machine were OK, but I have not attempted to print high volume with them. Most users of this printer are having trouble over time with the extruders.

This has been the history of many multiple color options. Even the Prusa Multi-Color add-on has generated more negative than positive feedback over time.

The two printers that I have reviewed that have aged the best are the original Ender 3 and the Prusa MK3. A close runner-up is the Ender 5. In addition, changes in technology have made 3d printers that were a good buy a couple of years ago look like a bad deal. 2 years ago, the Monoprice Ultimate 2 was a decent printer. Still, at $500, it is no longer worth consideration when you can buy the Flsun Speed Racer that I am currently reviewing for the same price.

This is the good and the bad of a rapidly changing marketplace. Technology that looks good today will be inferior tomorrow. That is why machines like the Ender 3 stand out. The Ender 3 is very basic, but it is easy to upgrade, and even in the original form, it would still work well today.

I have a dream about an Artist D outfitted with 2 Micro Swiss all metal hotend extruder combos.

@Irv_Shapiro, could you share the Cura profile you use for the Artist D, and perhaps a 3mf file of a model you used with the profile? It might be useful to do a direct comparison between our 2 printers.

@Ender5r I switch to using ideaMaker from Raise3d because of its better IDEX support for my Artist D. So I never spent much time tuning a Cura profile. The profile I got for ideaMaker came from the JG Maker Facebook group. I have attached the files, but to be honest I do not remember how to install them. You may need to Google it. I put the files into a zip file since the forum would not let me upload a .bin file. (Need to speak to the admin :-))

It will take you a bit of time to learn this new slicer but it has some very nice features and the IDEX support is excellent.

Let me know how it works out and if you need any help.

Artist-D ideaMaker Profiles.zip (45.2 KB)