How to improve the quality of a print? Ultimaker 2+

[federico3]

Hey,

I’m working on a project with an Ultimaker 2+. I’m printing a lamp with a PLA silver metallic filament provided by Ultimaker.

I noticed some imperfections in the final result:

What should I change in the setting in order to fix it? Any ideas?

Cheers,

Federico

[EASY_3D_STORE]

cooling issue - decrease print speed and make sure fans are 100%

[wirescomp]

not enough infill or the filament wasn’t being fed properly?

[federico3]

Thanks for your answer, here some data:
Height: 0.15 mm
Thickness: 0.8 mm
Density: 20%
Speed: 50 mm/s

[Alexandre_16]

This looks like a stream of cold air went by… try to close air sources like windows and doors, or use something to make a door to the open front of the printer

[lord_daeloth]

Yeah, you almost certainly want to slow things down. Something like this could probaby be printed at 40mm/s, but i usually stick to 30 to ensure smooth surfaces. Also, turn off any fans and close windows in the room you are printing in. Last, make sure your cooling fans are clean, mine gather dust like crazy and their performance suffers when it builds up. Just don’t use canned air for that, don’t want dust in your bearing or z screw. Some qtips and rubbing alcohol will do the trick.

[MattG]

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.

[Jamburger]

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.

[federico3]

@lord_daeloth thanks for your suggestion. I’ll try to do it! How did you solve the problem of aeration in the room in which you’re printing? I mean, I’ve got different printers in the same room and some of them are using ABS that’s not exactly healthy. My solution was to leave the window a bit open but considering what everyone is saying it’s not the best idea of ever.

[federico3]

Here is the file, you’re really kind! Thanks a lot. Cura is the slicer.

[federico3]

Hey @MattG,

Thanks for your reply. I had this kind of imperfection in two different points of the printer, not on the same level: that’s the reason for which I’m really curious to understand the cause of the problem. Here is the Gcode if you want to take a look. In any case, I’ll check tomorrow but apparently the hotend is moving without any problem and it’s the first time that I have this kind of imperfection.

[federico3]

Fans were running at 100%. I cooled down the temperature manually after the first hour because I noticed that it might be a bit to high.

[Jamburger]

@federicogiacone

Frankly I sincerely doubt this is a cooling issue. I just doesn’t make sense. Before you risk your health, see my reply below.

There is a whole lot of guessing going on in this thread with very little information to go on. I’d be skeptical of any of these answers so far, even “slow the print down”. That one is used as a cure-all, but it isn’t always the right solution.

[federico3]

20% infill. The filament looks like really fine, so I won’t say that’s the cause of the imperfection.

[Jamburger]

Thanks, I’ll take a look at this and post some screenshots.

glad to help!

[federico3]

Take all the time that you need, I’m not in a rush. It is just curiosity and willingness to learn
And, if you find out any issue with the Gcode, can I ask to point me where is it? I’m trying to learn how Gcode it’s working and it’s always nice to have see the point of view of someone else

[remcokatz]

Hi @federico3,

Please check these 4 things:

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

[federico3]

Hey Remcokatz,

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

Thanks for your help

[MattG]

Had a quick look at the gcode nothing glaringling obvious, the reason I was suggesting something mechanical rather than cooling or setting related is just because of the localisation of the problem, it doesn’t appear to be at the beginning or end of a tool path either. When you say this happened at two points, at different heights, were they in roughly the same location in x-y?

The hottend is moving freely… there’s nothing snagging, restricting the bowden tube at a certain point / extreme is there?

Curious to see the cause of this one!

[remcokatz]

Alright looking forward to the feedback!

Regarding point 1; Even cheap filament can look great but what you don’t see if it has diameter tolerance issues. Therefore you would have to measure it at several points on the spool with a caliper. So you can never say that filament is fine just by looking at it (even new spools). If you need help how to properly measure I can give some more info.

If you havent gotten any problems with the same spool and different prints then we can just move forward to solve your issue.

P.s. your retraction speed seems a bit aggressive but i’m not sure what the standard is for the 2+