mechamecha

Thanks for the info, Chris. However, that's a different problem than the one being discussed in this thread.

They absolutely made my prints better, as you can see from the photos I posted earlier in the thread. They virtually eliminated the visible stepping on the surfaces of my prints. conny_g already did the soldering fix to his printer, that's why adding these smoothers didn't work. I haven't noticed any under-extrusion like neotko mentioned, but if I ever do, I suppose I'll just remove the smoother installed on the extruder. I did add some small heat sinks to each, because I experienced one mishap with a very long printing session where I'm assuming the smoother boards got too hot. I'm still very pleased with this simple, cheap mod.

(Left: After TL Smooth / Right: Before) I bought a TL Smooth kit from gr5 store a few weeks ago, and I'm extremely pleased with the results! I've modded my Ultimaker 2 quite a bit over the past several years. Each "upgrade" seems to have made a distinct improvement in one way or another, but I've always tried to get the best possible print quality out of it, and the tiny patterns created by stepper motor errors have always bothered me, even though they're only really noticeable on certain (very geometric) prints. I consider the TL Smooth kit to be one of the best, least expensive, and easiest to install mods I've done to my UM2. I'm now getting the most impressive prints I've ever seen from my printer, and I'm convinced that I'm very close to the ceiling of what's achievable with it in terms of print quality. After installing the kit, I didn't replace the cover for the electronics under my UM2 because I would've had to really cram everything in there. Even so, I did experience one failed print similar to what neotko described. I was attempting a couple of 16+ hour prints, one immediately after the other, and the second one failed very close to the end. I checked on it when I heard the loud noise the z-motor makes upon completing a print, and discovered a beautiful print sitting there on the build platform, except the last 8-10 mm were unprinted and there was a large nest of spaghetti extruded on top of it. I don't typically run my UM2 for such long stretches without giving it a rest, but I'll probably end up installing some tiny heat sinks, like neotko suggested, just to be safe.

That's really exciting news, neotko! I'm looking forward to learning how to do this.

Yeah, I think we're talking about the same thing here. Sometimes it looks more like a moire pattern, like on curved surfaces, but when you've got a gently sloping wall that lines up perfectly with the x or y axes, it shows up as regularly spaced stair steps going up the side of the wall. Basically, the stepper motors seem to be creating a tiny 3D pixellation effect. I've been very impressed by the results you've been getting with your acetone technique, so I guess I'll just have to give that a try!

Any new developments on how to resolve the tiny stair stepping visible on printed surfaces without performing surgery on the mainboard and potentially ruining it? The stair stepping is particularly visible on gentle slopes, and it's a bit disappointing to see these artifacts on otherwise flawless prints...

Thanks for replying, tinkergnome, and thanks for all the work you put into your firmware mods! I guess that's what the problem is, then: PID mode vs. bang-bang mode for the heated bed, although it's strange that a setting for the heated bed would cause major fluctuations in the hot end temperature.

Thanks for replying, neotko. As I mentioned before, the only difference between those two prints is the firmware. All print settings – speed, temp, layer height, etc. are exactly the same. I printed the striped one with the official Ultimaker firmware, then immediately installed the Tinker firmware and printed the other one, which looks fine. I encountered the exact same results the last time I switched between the two firmware versions. Would each firmware install different PID settings?

The only difference between the two prints below is the firmware. The print with the odd stripes was done with the official Ultimaker firmware, the other was printed after installing Tinker firmware 16.03.1. Obviously, there's some kind of bug in the official firmware.

I'm posting a follow-up in case anyone else has been experiencing this crazy problem. So I ended up ordering some new z-bushings from Misumi and installing them on my Ultimaker 2, and guess what? The problem was still there!! Same inconsistent layer heights! At that point I was thinking, "What the heck! I guess I'm going to have to replace the entire z motor assembly?!" After blowing off some steam, I decided to change the firmware on my printer, just for the heck of it. A month or so back I had Cura 2.3.1 install the latest "official" firmware on my machine because I was having some issues with the Tinker firmware like weird air printing in random places. So I reinstalled the latest Tinker firmware, and what do you know! Problem solved! Then the Tinker firmware was giving me ERROR - STOPPED messages and ruining my prints, so I went back to the official firmware. At first I thought the problem hadn't returned because I was printing with .06 mm layers for a while, but when I started printing at .2 mm, I immediately noticed the inconsistent layers again. So now I'm back to Tinker firmware 16.03.1, which is the last problem-free version I remember using. Again, problem solved.

Nope, my printer is several years old. Thanks again, neotko! I'm looking forward to your tutorial.

Thank you very much for your helpful reply, neotko! I'll give your suggestions a try. Are these the right z bearings for the Ultimaker 2? The link you provided gives me this message: "The requested topic does not exist."

Lately I've been having trouble with excessive horizontal banding on my prints. I don't often use transparent filaments, but today I did and discovered that I'm definitely getting inconsistent layer heights in my prints. I even watched and could clearly see a slightly larger distance between the print and nozzle on certain layers. How do I go about fixing this? New Z bearings?

I've had my Bondtech extruder for nearly two weeks now and I think it was well worth the cost. It was quite simple to install. With the included foam pad to dampen the vibrations between the motor and the back of the printer, it's also quieter now. The stock extruder on the Ultimaker 2 was a weak point and a source of plenty of frustration in the past, but the Bondtech makes it pretty much worry-free. It grips the filament tightly with no grinding. I used to get nervous about hearing the printer doing lots of retractions, but the Bondtech handles retractions with no problems at all. I highly recommend it!

Just for the heck of it, I decided to order some E3D silicone socks to see if I could make them work with my fan mount. Coincidentally, they fit perfectly into the nozzle hole in my design. The only thing I needed to do was cut off the the tabs sticking up from the back of the sock (see photo), because the Olsson block is longer. Other than that, it fits right in, and the fan mount holds it in place. With the sock installed, I can run my fans as high as I want without worrying about air being deflected back up into the heater block which can cause inconsistent layers. Unfortunately, this addition defeats the quick nozzle change feature of the original fan mount design.

[print=2636][/print]

I've had a spool of Colorfabb Woodfill for a while now, but I've been putting off trying it out because I've read so much about how tricky it is to use. I finally decided to give it a shot and was really surprised that I had no trouble at all with it. It looks and feels great. Definitely on my list of favorite filaments now! [print=2187][/print]

Onshape is an excellent web-based 3D CAD program. It's powerful and easy to use, and many tutorials are provided on their site. Free and paid accounts are available. I think the only limitations to free accounts are 10 private documents and 100 MB private storage.

Done!

[print=2186][/print] OK, so this isn't the most creative print... But I'm posting this because I'm pretty amazed by the exceptional print quality I was able to get from a sample of Biofila Linen filament. I'm seriously excited about this filament! To the naked eye, the layers at 0.1 mm are pretty much invisible (although you can see them better in this photo because I used a macro lens) and overhangs don't curl up as they're being printed. The feel of it is really nice, too; it feels a bit like ceramic or stone. I'm surprised that Biofila hasn't gotten more attention on these forums.