Simple Metal first print, what should I change?

[ZettabyteGamer]

Well I lied, it's my first useful print not the first. Printed at 208 C with printrbot PLA. The holes on the shroud were way to small and it took a while with a knife to drill them to size. I'm thinking of changing the temp to 205, or maybe even 200. You guys think that would help improve the quality at all?

[RetireeJay]

That print actually looks pretty good.
The diameter of holes is a well-known problem. Even the big commercial printers don't produce absolutely accurate holes.

But that said, the first things to look at are:

1) Extruder calibration (The steps per mm of filament going in to the extruder. Don't use a stock value, because machines differ; measure it yourself and get it right.)

2) ACCURATE measurement of your actual filament diameter (cut off two or three pieces about 20mm long, and measure with digital calipers for both the smallest "diameter" and the largest "diameter" on each piece; then take the average)

3) Tweaking the "Extrusion Multiplier" to get the most accurate dimensions possible.

Changing the extrusion temperature will have a very slight effect compared to the above three - which are first-order effects.

[subether]

That's a lot better than the first print mine cranked out.

I have a drill to fix the small hole problem.

[orkboy59]

The holes on mine were small too. I just drilled them out. The rest of the print turned out pretty good though.