Messy Layers

[ryhart18 0]

Hi all,

I recently received my Ultimaker 2, I'm new to 3D printing. I have been printing many objects lately. I have printed around 40 of one particular object using red PLA.

The settings I was using was high quality in Cura. By using Tune I was setting the temp to 230, buildplate to 65 speed to 95%, flow to 110% and fans on 100%. I was getting fantastic results. Until now.

For some strange reason I can no longer print using these settings. The layers were messing up. I first thought this was a levelling issue, so I re-calibrated the buildplate and tried again. No luck. I read on a post to lower temp to 210 and buildplate to 55-60. This did help, until the second go. It messed up again.

I cannot seem to understand what has changed in my setup. I will post a picture to help understand my issue.

Picture: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2ahz61d&s=8#.VDwp-NR4rmE

Thank you.

 

[donmilne 2]

I assume we're talking about underextrusion - though I can't see it clearly in that picture.

The two possibilities that spring to mind are (a) deformation of the teflon spacer, (b ) getting towards the latter end of a reel (tighter coil == more drag in bowden tube).

 

[gloveside45 0]

I have the same problem. I decided to open up Expert Settings after having several failed attempts to print standard objects in greater detail. I was using High Res in the basic menu and the results were nowhere near high quality. Each subsequent print of the same object yielded different results. So I opened up Expert Settings...Wrong thing to do!

The first thing I went in and changed was layer settings, I went from 0.1 to 0.6 in an attempt to print a gear with a hole that measted 0.75mm radius. I hoped that decreasing the layer thickiness would allow me to print the hole as basic high res settings woudn't. I also changed the speed from 50 to 20 in what I thought was an attempt to slow down the print head for a better quality print. Well when I hit print with the new setting all hell broke loose. The head didn't lay down any material onto the buildplate, it all globed up around the head. What a mess.

I can't get this printer dialed in for the life of me and I'm a software and hardware engineer.

 

[nightwish 0]

Or the nozzle is blocked just a little, so it can extrude but not enough. Try attomic method to make sure your nozzle is completely free.

 

[gr5 2,270]

The head didn't lay down any material onto the buildplate, it all globed up around the head.

 

That's usually a leveling issue.

1) Do you really mean .6mm? Or .06mm? Check again!

2) Is your first layer height set to .3mm (that's default)? If first layer height is .06mm then this is very very difficult and will need to level very carefully using only the screws (not the normal levelling procedure which is too crude and will mess it up).

3) Usually globbed up around the head is levelling too high off the bed. Try moving the bed closer to the head by 1/4 turn on each screw and restart.

 

[gr5 2,270]

I cannot seem to understand what has changed in my setup.

 

Please get a better photo of the problem. In this blurry photo it looks like underextrusion but I'm not certain. In general this is caused by either a faulty printer or printing too fast or too cold. You need to get off that "high quality" stuff as most of us who can help you don't know what those settings do and it changes from version to version of Cura. The most important thing is to know what speed and layer height you were getting with "high quality". Assuming .2mm layer height use this chart to pick your max speed versus temp (so either raise the temp or lower the speed). Use the dark blue line and cut the speed in half of the max where the line is:

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/4127-um2-extrusion-rates-revisited/

For example at 210C you should not be printing faster than 30mm/sec.