ftoons

I'll mark this as solved. Thanks everyone for your kind assistance. One lesson I learned is that there are many people looking to help others in this forum. Another lesson is that not all downloaded models are good to print.. I need to learn more about meshes and how to optimise them.

I think the main problem is in the model itself. it seems to have too many polygons on the corners.. Have a look at this discussion for an informative explanation by NikiWillOrStuff on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/6mk8w6/anyone_knows_what_are_these_small_corner_blobs/dk28phq/

Thanks for your informative reply. I'm leaning more for it being a z seam. as the blobs become align on top of each other when I click the Z seam alignment to shortest. not sure why it shows sometimes and sometimes don't.. they are there when printing at low speed and low temperature. I dont think its that in my case..

Ok, I think we are getting closer to the answer here.. I just printed this test cube with the following settings: Generic PLA @185, 35 mm/s Z Seam Alignment (shortest) This is new this time and i think its the key here.. LAyer height 0.2 mm, wall thickness this time 0.4mm Decreased travel speed, print acceleration and print jerk (not sure if they affect anything in vase mode?) Enabled retraction and retract at layer change. Ret distance = 6.5 mm, ret speed 25 mm/s, retr min travel 0.7 mm Also minimum layer time was 0. It seems to me that the Z Seam Alignment is causing the blobs to concentrate on top of each other for a couple of layers, then in the next couple of layers they move to another corner (the other corners get clean, only one has blobs) then the location of the lumps of blobs change to a different corner and so on.. I'll try to specify a location for the z seam alignment and update you. Thanks.

1 & 2 )Ultimaker 3 Extended, default 2.85 mm 3) nozzle size set to 0.4 (in print core setting), line width 0.35 (default profile) 4) I believe that's the wall thickness under "Shell"? Its 1 mm. One other thing, it seems this problem is appearing in other non vase mode prints as well. Here's a dual extrusion benchy i did yesterday in 0.2mm layer height, innofill pro (black) @ 215 C and generic PLA (golden) @ 205 C. I have decreased printing speed to 45 mm/s. Enabled prime tower and ooze shield took a little more than 5 hours. Not the best benchy.. but for the sake of this thread, it also has two of those blebs in a corner (front hull): I'll print the cube in non vase mode and see if it makes a difference. Thanks for your kind assistance.

But the clicking i'm hearing is about once every second (printing at 30mm/s to test gr5's suggestion). Wouldn't a constant move give a much higher frequency (multiple per second) clicks?

That's a wonderful thread, thanks for sharing it.

Unfortunately that didn't help. I'm starting to think the problem is in the stl itself.. could you kindly give it a try when you can? Here is a link https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:953162

Thanks for your reply. An Ultimaker 3 Extended. they were printed at 70 mm/s. If you mean the filament clicking sound then no. This is a fresh spool of filament and the same problem occurs with other spools. I think it's not the filament. No the constant clicking I meant is from the z axis when in vase mode. But yeah, as Gr5 says 70mm/s is quite fast. So lowering your speed can help. Yes I do hear constant clicking. Never associated it with vase before but now I can't un-hear it What does that indicate?

It might be the model that's causing this trouble. I was hoping someone could kindly print it and see if the same problem occurs? Its a calibration cube made by Angus, from the thingiverse. Here is the link to it: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:953162

Thanks for your reply. An Ultimaker 3 Extended. they were printed at 70 mm/s. If you mean the filament clicking sound then no. This is a fresh spool of filament and the same problem occurs with other spools. I think it's not the filament.

Thanks for your reply. I did initially think it was a temperature problem, but it appears to be present regardless of the temperature of the nozzle. The tallest cube on the right is temperature graded (z height is 60 mm in total, it was printed with an increase in 5 degrees every 10 mm, as marked). The one on the middle has its base at 215 then at 10 mm 195 degrees, then increasing by 5 degrees every 10 mm. Then the short one in the left was printed on a fixed temperature of 215 degrees. The artefact is present in all of them. To note, i have laid them in the same printing orientation; their build plate side is on the right side of the photo.

This is a standard 20 x 20 mm calibration cube (from thingiverse) but scaled height to 60 mm in Cura 2.6.2. Vase mode. PLA @ 0.2 mm. 70 mm/s Printed to test different temperatures. The problem occurs even with stable temperature as the shortest cube shows (that one was printed at 215 C) Retraction was ticked on at 25 mm/s. But I don't think it retracts in vase mode anyways, right? The problem gets better with more height as the cubes show (bases on right, tops on left of image).

3D Solex has a third party removable core (HardCore Pro) with changeable nozzles, as small as 0.1 mm Here's a link Haven't seen any reviews on yet though.. perhaps because its new Edit: Funny I'm replying about the same thing a couple of days later. Sorry, I haven't seen my previous reply above.