Temp settings for PLA on a Mini

I’ve done a couple of small parts for my first print. I’m getting ready to do some large ones now. I’m not sure if I have the temperature settings correct for the PLA I am using, not sure of the manufacturer, printers at my local library.

The first parts I did are only 4 mm x 4 mm x 12 mm. The side that is on the plate came out flat and a bit spread out, looks like someone pressed it down while the plastic was still hot. The second parts were the same size but I orientated it 90’ so the holes, 1 mm diameter, were facing top to bottom. Those holes are also a bit filled in, I had to take a drill to clean them out. I would think the printer could print to that resolution, can it?

It looks, to me any ways, that the temperature for the nozzle and plate are to high. I went with the defaults on the nozzle, 205’F, and change the plate from 60’F to 50’F.

Are these to high? what would be better settings if so? Or is something else causing this problem?

Thanks
John

Temps look good. The squishing at the bottom of the print is called elephants foot. There’s likely a way to fix it through settings, but I generally just put a slight chamfer (0.3mm x 0.7mm) on any bottom edges that I want to have the correct tolerances. As far as the horizontal holes, they’ll never come out perfect because of the bridging. If you want a nice looking but not quite dimensionally accurate hole, you could try something like in the image below. the 45 degree overhand and straight bridge should help keep things looking cleaner.

Thanks for the info and the new term. I like the chamfer idea, I’ll try that. On the second part I printed it with the holes in the vertical so I wouldn’t think I would need bridges.

Thanks again
John