Banding/Striping on Printout

[DaHai8 74]

I'm getting these colored bands on my printouts. I've tried many different settings to resolve it, but nothing is working. Anyone have any ideas what might be causing it?

(See attached photo)

Thanks!

Edited November 30, 2015 by Guest

[SandervG 1,521]

Some filaments have a tendency to show this more than others.

Have you tried a different color to see if that helps?

Is it just color or also surface?

[neotko 1,417]

I had some of that, but not as much as you while using cheap pla's. But mostly it can happen with any pla. The source of this it's the heat of the nozzle it's changing more than 2C while printing. It might be due the fan being too fast. UM2 low W heater it's more prone to loose heat when exposed to -too much- fan. Try to check the temperature of the nozzle while printing and check if it oscillates too much.

[DaHai8 74]

Thank you SandervG and neotko for your replies.

The color and surface are difference. Notice on the rounded edge on the right that the darker color bulges out more than the lighter.

It does happen on all my PLA colors, just this one 'Gold' (ha) color shows it up the worst.

Just two days ago the mainboard on my printer fried - would not move any motor plugged into the X socket. So today I just got in a new board (MKS Mini) and have loaded newer Merlin software on it and testing/calibrating it now.

At this time, I'm only seeing a +-1c change when printing. That could be from the new firmware, or not. I'll keep monitoring it.

It is interesting that the banding is occuring at regular 5mm intervals. Perhaps a Z motor issue?

After I get it re-calibrated, I'll run another big print and see if there is any change.

Thanks!

[DaHai8 74]

No changes with the banding.

The 'Gold' color does show it the worst. Guess I'm going to have a zebra striped Dragon!

It's gotta be a Z-Motor issue as its always at 5mm no matter how big or small the print. And the new Marlin software made no difference there.

Oh well, it was a very inexpensive (cheap) printer...

[SandervG 1,521]

What printer do you have?

Could be motor, bearings, unstable Zstage.. having a cheap printer.

It all counts.

[DaHai8 74]

You'll laugh...

It's a Chinese kit: HCC Convenient 3D

Cost: $150 (1,000¥)

Trying to squeeze every Yuan out of it!

Probably expecting too much - but learning A LOT!

So when I've saved enough to buy a GOOD printer, I'll know what to look for and what to avoid.

Thanks for all your help!!

[neotko 1,417]

Well the the color banding It's just that the heat sensor It's too low quality that can't keep the hotend on a really stable heat temperature.