That’s an odd one, is it just the light or am I seeing that large area depressed from the rest of the print? It’s happened in the same spot for quite a few layers in the z direction. If this were cooling or fan related, I wouldn’t expect to see it so localized as that. Has the model definitely sliced correctly, or are your x and y carriages moving freely all along the axis? I would trying manually moving the print head when the machine is off to see if there is any localized resistance, roughly in the area where the fault is occurring.
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What slicer are you using? Can you post your full list of settings? It’s hard to troubleshoot without knowing all of the details.
If you can attach your gcode file, too, I can run it through the gcode analyzer program my company, Blit It, is developing to get a more specific idea of what’s going on.
I think it is a problem of temperature.
This is an error in your retraction or pausing when you change layers. That is why it is occuring at the same area on the print, because that is where the zaxis is moving up. This is also why the error is occuring elsewhere on the print, but NOT in the same layers.
One of two things.
1. Your layer height retraction number is screwy. You are retracting so far that the head moves up, the next layer starts, but it takes awhile for the plastic to get out of the extruder.
2. Or more likely, you have a mechanical issue. The extruder pauses, the z axis moves up to the next layer, and when the extruder unpauses, it is slipping, jamming, etc. As more and more plastic is pushed into the extruder, it finally builds up enough push to continue printing.
3. This could also be caused by a worn, difigured, burned PTFE extruder lining, that it needs much pressure to get going after a pause, zaxis move.
All the other temperature, speed, gust of wind, etc. posts are simply not realistic.
I will bet you a candy bar that if you watch the print as it is happening, it will be exactly where you printer is changing layer height.
Perry
Agree with everything here, but when I looked at the gcode for the area of the problem, the layer height appears to change at a different position for each layer???
Hi Perry_1,
Thanks for your answer. On Monday, I’ll check if there is any mechanical issue with the printer but I’d say that the printer is working smoothly. I’ll also try to run again the same gcode file, in order to understand if the problem is due to an external factor or to a problem in the code/printer/material.
Federico
@remcokatz I’ve measured the filament in three random spots, the results are quite regular: 2.90, 2.87, 2.92 mm
Good luck with figuring this one out, let us know any developments! I know how frustrating troubleshooting can be, particularly less obvious symptoms, and especially when it ruins long runs!
If the print was sitting inside the printer as per the second photo you printed, then that suggests that the failed part was at the back, so localised heating issues would seem to be unlikely. Also, only one leaf appears to suffer from this issue.
So, the only thing I can think of at the moment it to use the “cut off bottom object” feature of Cura (15.0x) and start printing from just below where the problem started, and then watch what’s going on. Ideally, video it as well, and make the video very steady. Then we might be able to diagnose the problem from that, or you might do so yourself just by observing what’s going on.
I’ve looked at the G code and there are no extruder retracts or Z hops near the locations where the defect is. The extrusion proceeds smoothly from the
sides right across the face where the defect is. The print looks like the extruder is starved of material in that zone of the print. Since it does not seem to
occur randomly but repeatedly in that one zone it might have something to do with the filament binding when the head moves into that particular location in
that particular direction at that particular height. Once the head is out of that zone the filament moves freely again and the starved extruder issue goes
away. My guess is the wire cable is stuck behind the filament spool and is causing drag on the spool and/or the filament path where it should not be. See the picture.
I drew a red circle on the picture but its hard to see.
Here’s a better picture.
Hi n23d,
Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate your effort! I’m having more issues with the Ultimaker 2+, right now it’s almost not extruding material anymore. The cable isn’t stuck behind the filament spool: I suppose that there is some kind of deposit of PLA inside the hotend. I tried the “Atomic Test” and that’s the result: as you can see, the issue it’s not in the nozzle or in the filament but somewhere in the hotend. I’ll check it and I’ll update you about the situation
A lot of blind guessing in these replies…
This is a warping problem, caused by the plastic not having cooled down enough in that area when the next layer is deposited. It most likely happens in the sides facing away from the fans. So probably the temp was a bit too high, and slowing down will also help.
I also see that the infill is clearly visible in some parts of the shell. Better set shell to 0.8, that will help. And if you set fill to 100% that problem will definitely be gone. Print time will be longer, but it’s a long print anyway…
Shell was already set to 0.8. Print a lamp with a fill of 100% it’s super long and a waste of material honestly.
In that case, perhaps the infill overlap was set too high ? These lines from the infill shouldn’t be visible through a 0.8 mm shell…