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Most (new) 3D printer owners would like to know what the maximum print speed of their printer is. So what's easier, we set the feed rate high, choose a nice object or one made for calibration and print we go. If the object prints nicely and there are no missing steps at the extruder or any other motor, then declare the new record and live happily ever after. Or not?

Unfortunately not. Take a look at the picture above, of two "successful" prints of a simple 0.5mm single wall box. The speed settings were 250mm/s and 350mm/s. And here is another picture of a slightly different object printed with the same settings on the same printer.

This time the (lack of) capability of the extruder at the requested speeds is evident. The object printed acceptably only at 150mm/s.

The above, and the fact that there is a plethora of new designs emerging every day in the fast growing world of 3D printing that make it necessary to define and follow a set of conditions before an measurement of print speed and extruder performance can be made.

This project aims to provide a simple set of prerequisite conditions, test objects and test procedures necessary for an assessment of 3d printer extruder performance. Test results are accompanied with photographs of successfully printed test objects. An Excel spreadsheet is provided as a template to help organize and perform the test together with sample test results and graphs.