Why does my print have tiny zebra stripes?

[gr5 2,172]

Oh - of course. I have fixed about 100 cables (25 tl smoothers) already. Not sure why they can't find cheap Chinese labor to do this as they are made in China. But I only ship to usa/canada/mexico.

[cloakfiend 995]

Shame I'm in the UK! so thats my dreams dashed for the second time! lol.

[CellZapper 1]

Hi I am reading this topic to find a fix to MY problem,

 

I am a noob to all things 3D, but I have been looking far and wide for answers to my questions.

 

I think this ZEBRA patterning is documented else where as " moiré patterns " caused by the bed levelling software used on many printers, the pattern being caused by the steps added to the print to account for the bed being out of level and resulting in  extra bits being added to level the print....

 

I saw this on Utube "makers muse" live stream recording.

 

I hope this helps (if its indeed true)

 

Chris

[mechamecha 64]

On 1/22/2018 at 10:58 AM, CellZapper said:

Hi I am reading this topic to find a fix to MY problem,

 

I am a noob to all things 3D, but I have been looking far and wide for answers to my questions.

 

I think this ZEBRA patterning is documented else where as " moiré patterns " caused by the bed levelling software used on many printers, the pattern being caused by the steps added to the print to account for the bed being out of level and resulting in  extra bits being added to level the print....

 

I saw this on Utube "makers muse" live stream recording.

 

I hope this helps (if its indeed true)

 

Chris

 

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

[cjs 34]

@gr5 have you modded your Ultimaker 3's as well? I'm thinking about it, but I don't know if it may affect the automatic build plate probing 

[cloakfiend 995]

I call them stepper lines. But they dont bother me anymore. Id rather have stepper lines than layer lines anyday.

[gr5 2,172]

@cjs - I have not modded my UM3 other than to print the ultiwedge from youmagine (not really a mod) and I use 3dsolex cores instead of standard cores (disclaimer - I sell them in my store).  But what does a tl-smoother have to do with auto leveling?  Nothing as far as I am concerned.  tl-smoother just increases the power of the stepper a bit every 15th and 16th step such that the stepper moves the proper distance on all 16 microsteps and not 14 out of the 16 micro steps.

[cjs 34]

17 hours ago, gr5 said:

But what does a tl-smoother have to do with auto leveling?

As the auto tramming is quite sensitive to electro magnetic fields I was wondering if the tl-smoother emmits some which may confuse the sensor/system. 

Any specific reason why you haven't made the change on your UM3? 

[JohnInOttawa 104]

This is of interest to me, I have both an Ultimaker Original and UM3, will certainly mod the Original, just need to decide if I will mod the UM3 as well.

 

Shout out to gr5 - great service, the change out tool for the hardcore is most appreciated!

 

Related question - can  the tl smoother be used in conjunction with the SilentStepStick (tmc2100) on the UMO?

Thanks all for a great thread.

John

Edited January 30, 2018 by JohnInOttawa

[gr5 2,172]

I suspect the silent step sticks don't need smoothing but I don't know for sure.

[nilrog 103]

No they don't.

The "smoothers" are really intended for the DRV8825 (if you read all the details from various sources closely).

But they do work, to some extent, also with the A4988, as shown here...but with other drawbacks as some have reported.

For the A4988 the better "solution" is to solder the ROSC resistor...but that is however a fix that requires more skills, and guts, to apply.

[tiaguera79 2]

On 11/20/2016 at 5:02 PM, Torgeir said:

OK. Here it is.

The first picture show the part of the main board of interest, all stepper drivers with the connectors and a yellow mark besides the resistors to be shorted.

I've made a detail picture of each of the drivers where you can see the actual short jumper across the resistors.

The individual pictures have name that’s reflect the stepper, the ICS name and involved resistor ID.

So the following pictures added is:

X_U8_R84.JPG (So: the X-axes, IC U8 and resistor R84)

Y_U10_R85.JPG

Z_U11_R86.JPG

E1_U12_R102.JPG

E2_U13_R103.JPG

That’s all.

Overview of involved parts.

The X-axes.

The Y-axes

The Z-axes

The E1 feeder (here you'll see clearly how the resistor is shorted across).

The E2 feeder

So, remember to remove all contacts/connection from the main board before soldering here.

Good Luck.

Thanks.

Torgeir.

Hi! 

I accidentaly blew the C74 capacitor. Does anyone know it’s right specification on v2.1.4 board?

[Torgeir 242]

Hi @tiaguera79,

 

The capacitor C74 is a 220 nF SMD capacitor as this one:

 

https://www.conrad.com/ce/en/Search.html?search=smd+220+nF&filterContent=1+pc(s)&filterNominal+voltage=25+V

 

Thanks

Regard

Torgeir.

[tiaguera79 2]

7 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Hi @tiaguera79,

 

The capacitor C74 is a 220 nF SMD capacitor as this one:

 

https://www.conrad.com/ce/en/Search.html?search=smd+220+nF&filterContent=1+pc(s)&filterNominal+voltage=25+V

 

Thanks

Regard

Torgeir.

Hi Torgeir! 

I can’t thank you enough for your help!

I’ll fix it soon. 

Best wishes!

[randyinla 14]

I picked up my U3Ext April 20, 2017, long before this thread had a solution.  I assume that means Ultimaker wasn't able to update the board before I got mine.

 

If someone wanted to do the solder fix on an U3Ext, would the same resistors be shorted out or are they different ones?  Would it still be R84, R85 & R86 for X/Y/Z on the U3Ext?  @Torgeir / @gr5 ?

 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to troubleshooting the zebra issue.  Was great to read it all in one sitting.

Edited May 6, 2019 by randyinla

[Cohen 4]

4 hours ago, randyinla said:

I picked up my U3Ext April 20, 2017, long before this thread had a solution.  I assume that means Ultimaker wasn't able to update the board before I got mine.

 

If someone wanted to do the solder fix on an U3Ext, would the same resistors be shorted out or are they different ones?  Would it still be R84, R85 & R86 for X/Y/Z on the U3Ext?  @Torgeir / @gr5 ?

 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to troubleshooting the zebra issue.  Was great to read it all in one sitting.

Hi Randy, yes it are the same resistors. Also R102 and R103 for the extruder steppers.

[randyinla 14]

Thank you, Cohen!

[randyinla 14]

Success!

The position of the 5 SMD resistors were easily accessible without having to take the board out of the UM3Ext.  Just had to unplug a few cables and move them out of the way.  Was able to do the soldering with the machine on its side.

 

Sadly, RIP to resistor #102, who fell to his untimely death.  He gave his life for better surfaces.  He will not be forgotten 😢

 

The blurry looking purple text looks that way because the ink seeped into the layer lines of the print.  The actual surfaces are in focus.  The Before right side has some funky layering towards the top because I was adjusting the speed/heat on the fly after it passed that indented layer line (which happened on its own) to see if that made any difference.  It didn't, really.

 

As others have said, the After zebra effect is still there, but it is MUCH less pronounced.  Whereas I can still see a faint version of the striping at certain light angles, I cannot feel them.  The before stripes can be felt by the fingertips.

 

I am very happy with the results!  With the lines still happening, albeit barely, I wonder if there could be a firmware update to adjust voltages to the steps that cause the lines?   Sort of try to have them fire with the same strength/duration as the other steps.  If the board wasn't designed to have such things controlled, then probably not... maybe a different driver would produce even smoother results?

Edited May 9, 2019 by randyinla

[calinb 11]

Quote

I haven't printed anything yet but my stuttering Z stage is still gone too, which is what motivated this upgrade in the first place.

UPDATE:

 

I was premature to announce success in my ongoing war against Z-stuttering, because this problem my UMO has exhibited since new was not fully exorcised from my printer after my last post here and it often continued to rear (or spin ;)) its ugly head. However, after several months without experiencing the problem, I am finally ready to update my post with my solution for anyone who stumbles upon this old thread or is searching for a Z-stutter cure. (I know that over the years, others have reported it in these forums.)

 

Though I've built Marlin countless times in the past, my build upgrading to Marlin 1.1.19 solved the problem. Marlin 1.1.19 has so many new and useful features and it can be setup to work so much more smoothly and intelligently with the Ulticontroller than the original UMO Marlin version that I recommend 1.1.19, regardless. The "Level corners" bed levelling utility is my favorite upgrade, though I'm working on a BLTouch installation currently too. It's possible to choose values that make the Ulticontroller push knob both "accelerate" very nicely with fast spins of the knob but still produce a single advancement (integer or menu increment) using slow single-click turns. It took some experimentation to discover the optimum values to do it so feel free to PM me, if you're interested in my Marlin 1.1.19 code.

 

Of course I still don't know the root cause of the z-stutter problem; I'm just pleased that this annoying problem with all my previous Marlin builds (including the official UM .hex file) is finally gone!

Edited August 14, 2019 by calinb

[ArrMack 1]

On 8/6/2017 at 10:50 PM, neotko said:

Made a small practical manual explaining the obvious stuff, to help the users that are afraid of touching their machine.

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/50647-manual-how-to-install-tl-smooth-zebra-strippes-fix-umo-um2-um3

Hi, the link to this is dead. Any chance you could add an updated link? 

[gr5 2,172]

you could have just used google:

 

 

Note that I sell these kits in my store but for USA customers only: thegr5store.com

 

[chumb360 0]

On 6/11/2015 at 7:23 PM, Wisar said:

But only on two sides and only at a certain level?!?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WZi5T_d7L9c/VXm1AgiFvaI/AAAAAAAAIvE/Qp58aFP3CFU/s1600/IMG_1984.jpg

The stripes appear on the other side as well. Have not tried rotating yet but will. There is a flat surface out of sight to the left below the side of the boat and it does NOT bear stripes!

Thanks for any pointers!

Will

 

[chumb360 0]

Yes I'm Getting same issue,   definitely mechanical issue happend all of a sudden not slicer  for sure tried tightning belts,leveling bed ,calibrating extruder changinh nozel, heatblock, bowden tube ,tightning all screws and lead screw no joy 

 

The lines run through every layer even outer walls 🤯

Edited March 5, 2022 by chumb360
Forgot

[JustinSchubert 0]

On 6/12/2015 at 1:04 PM, gr5 said:

Which stripes? You mean:

1) the diagonal stripes on the upper part of the boat?

2) the vertical stripes on the railng?

3) The strange pattern on the curved hull? (looks like underextrusion maybe)

4) horizontal stripes on hull?

1mm shell is bad - it means it will make 2 .5mm passes and that means pushing .5mm of filament through a .4mm nozzle or 25% extra. This is more than 25% harder to do! This is like twice as hard to do because it is squeezing the filament into a small area between the nozzle shoulder and the part. It takes much more pressure so you need to print at half speed you would typically print at.

Your bottom layer of your boat looks not so good - you should skip the leveling procedure and instead just rotate the 3 leveling screws 1/4 turn counter clockwise looking from below to get the glass closer to the nozzle. This is because you want the bottom layer squished in a little better. Not doing this may be fine for this small part but you run the risk of parts coming off the glass if you don't do this.

  I think they meat the Striping on the Side of the Print