Terrible Print Quality (15.02.1, UM2)

[hp-65 4]

I printed this with my standard settings for "functional prints",

0.2mm layer height, 65mm/s and 85mm/s for the infill (set to 50%).

Width of the object is 30mm.

(Just noticed that the back looks even worse.)

I must admit that this is one of the worst prints that has ever

left my UM2's printing bed...

During the print (at ~30%), I even reduced the speed down

to 50%, resulting in less than 35mm/s (45mm/s), but as you can

see, that did not improve anything.

Reminds me a little of my post from 6/2013, which compared

13.02 with 13.06.3.

 

Now, how do your prints look like with newer Cura versions?

What are your settings?

I have some Slic3r and Kisslicer setups for my UM1 and other

printers, but I'm too lazy to do the same for the UM2 (now).

Would anyone of you might sharing your settings/setups for

these?

 

[cloakfiend 995]

Damn i never got weird stuff like that even with the bad curas, i guess it must be something to do with the infill speeds being different or something . even at 70mm/s i have clean prints? not sure. i just use mostly default settings and touchwod, ive neverr have many problems. I think the problems arise when you start messing with too many setting that you dont really know what the variables do. These are my settings at the mo for high rez stuff i dont touch anything else.

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but i would manually set the temp to 230 during printing as 210 is too low for my pla to squeeze through at 0.2

 

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I would also normally set the infill to 20 or 30.

 

A lot of people mess with the setting obsessively but i found that there is no need, there are going to be lines, and it will not be perfect as you very well know, but as long as it looks like the printer has not seriously gone wrong during the print im happy. Those who seek perfection should look at post methods rather than endless fruitless tweaking they fool themselves into thinking they are actually making improvements. I speak of course for UM2 as that is what i have experience in. Temp and speed are the ONLY settings which you actually need to play with ignore everything else. Also remember the thickness of your nozzle being relative as well, i e. .4, .8, 1.2.... thats it. some appropriate glue as well (for pla that is), and a clean nozzle. lol.

 

P.S. i preffer a 1.2 thicker wall as it generally makes the model MUCH sturdier and not to delicate feeling.

 

[yellowshark 153]

Hi Cloakfiend, if you have to run .200 at 50mm/s with a temp of 230 then you have a have a fault with your printer, or a setting wrong. I can run .300 at 60mm/s with 220 max, from memory I think probably 215 with most filaments. If you search the net you will find that manufacturers give a PLA temp range and I think none exceed 220c.

Oh and a lot of us seek perfection rather than average which is why we change our settings e.g. try getting a decent overhang with a speed of 50mm/s

 

[Nicolinux 288]

I am noticing the same. Tried with several UM2s and the print quality seems to be worse. Which firmware version do you use?

[wattsekunde 0]

Same here. Infills and surface are looking like crap. UM2, 15.02.1 Cura & FW. I have to lower speed dramatically to get nearly as good results as with older versions.

What's the problem? Maybe the "Improved handling of large 3D models"?

For me speed doesn't really matter. I try to reach best possible Quality. Most of the time on small parts around 2 cm^3.

And another bad thing: On my first "huge" printjob 10x10x10cm cura 15.02.1 start printig on the inner brim and lay down the first starting filament output wire under the final surface. Very bad, too.

I think, I reinstall old FW.

BTW: After resetting Ultimaker2 it comes up with the "First time startup". Is there a way to abort this because I have already filament inserted?

Edited May 21, 2015 by Guest

[DidierKlein 729]

I think you can abort or cancel the wizard.

To me this doesn't come from the firmware but more from the slicer. I have the 15.02 firmware but i use Cura 14.12 i think.

Cura 15 has some quality problems with layer heights greater than .2mm if i remember well due to infill being printed before the outer shells. These quality problems don't show up with lower layer heights

[wattsekunde 0]

I think you can abort or cancel the wizard.

To me this doesn't come from the firmware but more from the slicer. I have the 15.02 firmware but i use Cura 14.12 i think.

Cura 15 has some quality problems with layer heights greater than .2mm if i remember well due to infill being printed before the outer shells. These quality problems don't show up with lower layer heights

Maybe I can rotate the knob to switch between continue and chancel? I've never tried... ;-)

I print only between 0.06mm and 0.1mm. But I think I also go back to cura 14.12.

Most of my prints are small as these knobs or gears:

Edited May 21, 2015 by Guest

[cloakfiend 995]

I agree the old CURA infill was better, but seeing as i never use infill anymore, i dont mind. I just tick support material, and it kinda serves the same purpose but uses less material and is great for what i need.

@yellowshark, i also seek perfection (and achieve it to some extend), but my perfection comes after some post work and painting (not very much BTW). And I personally hate the plastic look finishes now, everything looks the same in plastic, at least with faux metal effects and other experimentation nothing ever looks the same.

An unpainted model to me is an unfinished model (like a statue or something not engineering related). Like buying an air-fix model and not painting it. Or designing a 3D model and not texturing it, or anything. It looks like a toy, i just want it to look amazing. Even though it is simply amazing for being made the way it was anyway, and for even existing.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Guest

[peggyb 169]

maybe you could check your speed settings in the advanced tab, and setting all these to zero. When everything is printed at the same speed the result is more uniform, especially the infill.

[wattsekunde 0]

@ cloakfiend: Nice idea I definitely try with support instead of infill. Thanks

@ peggyb: I'm not shure but I'll give it a try. Thanks

But starting inside the inner brim is a no go for my "huge" project.

[cloakfiend 995]

 

@wattsekunde support doesn't generate if you close your model, so model it hollow (i.e. with a shell) or punch a hole in it somewhere during the modelling stage, then tick the support everywhere option. otherwise it will just print a hollow model without the support inside.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Guest

[gr5 2,167]

I have been using cura 15.01 since January and it works fine for me. Please post *all* your settings. Easiest to do a "file -> save profile" and post the ini file result. There are all kinds of things that if you mess with the quality is destroyed.

Or you can reset to default settings, then do .8mm shell (to get 2 passes) 20% infill (no more than that!) and print nice and slow for good quality - what's the rush? Try 35mm/sec for all speeds both infill and shell.

Bones are hollow with very little infill and they are strong. Your parts shouldn't need much infill either.

[cloakfiend 995]

Most parts dont need any infill, I print at 35mm/s for 0.06 and 50mm/s for 0.1. These are good speeds in my opinion.

[cloakfiend 995]

Hi Cloakfiend, if you have to run .200 at 50mm/s with a temp of 230 then you have a have a fault with your printer, or a setting wrong. I can run .300 at 60mm/s with 220 max, from memory I think probably 215 with most filaments. If you search the net you will find that manufacturers give a PLA temp range and I think none exceed 220c.

Oh and a lot of us seek perfection rather than average which is why we change our settings e.g. try getting a decent overhang with a speed of 50mm/s

Sorry for getting back late on this, but UM PLA states 190-260 for the Temps. And even if there is something wrong with my printer, i dont mind, as long as i keep getting perfect layer height.

[hp-65 4]

I was locked out of the forum since it was revamped >:-/

The printing quality slightly improved after setting infill

speed to 0, but everything still looked ugly.

Until 15.02.1, I ran my UM2 with an older, modded FW, but

upgraded to the HEX blob that was included in the new Cura

distribution.

Did the default acceleration settings change?

A few days ago, I cleaned the nozzle (90°C pull), but also

changed the layer height to 0.1mm for the prints I did so far.

It looks better now, but still need to test with 0.2mm height.

Clearly, there HAS to be reason for this.

[cloakfiend 995]

Not sure about all those mods, but I pull when it hits 85, this way I only really ever need one or two pulls. works for me with bog standard PLA filaments. sometimes I get distracted though and forget to look at the temp going down and it goes below 85 which either means it snaps or feels too tight to pull out so I have to start over.