1. Consistency of the filament diameter
2. Temperature variation; What is the off-set on your hot-end? 230 on your screen could be 215 or 245 etc. in real life with your machine
3. Are you certain that your PTFE is still in good condition (no brown parts when you open the hot-end assembly on the white PTFE part)?
4. How well is your machine performing at this point mechanically? Are all the belts tightened etc?
I’m suspicious of option 1. and 3. but let’s see what you can tell us
Now I’m at home and tomorrow I’m not in the office, in any case, I’ll ask someone else to check it.
1&3. The material should be fine: the filament is completely new (I opened the plastic bag just one day ago) and I didn’t have any problems with other prints.
4. Mechanically speaking, the machine is perfect.
3. I’ll try to run again the code and I’ll let you know what was the temperature
The two imperfection are on two different points in two completely different positions on the x-y-z axis.
I’ll check if there is any mechanical problem as soon as the printer will finish the print that is doing.
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.
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
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…
