Lines too evident
Hello. The lines on some of my prints are too evident. They are most noticeable printing complex shapes and or large ones. Some lines appear to be slightly misaligned. When I print simpler shapes, such as cubes or other flat surface objects, they are less noticeable. I have tried to change printing parameters, but I had no significant improvements. Is there a way to improve my results? Thanks!
RE: Lines too evident
That's usually from a loose belt or drive gear. Though once in a while it can be an artifact of regions inside the model changing layer print times; or layer density variations. You might try setting DETECT THIN WALLS for your next slice, I'm finding that setting helps many prints, not just those with true thin walls.
RE: Lines too evident
Hi, thanks for your answer. I checked my belt status and the values were X = 295 and Y = 290. Then I proceeded to tighten the belts. I got X = 280 and Y = 268. I printed a test and the lines had diminished, but were still too evident.
I tried to tighten X again, but got 286. I realized that when I turn the X stepper motor back to its place the belt slips some 5 mm from the carriage (some three teeth). As shown in the photo, the line in the belt touched the carriage before turning and screwing the X motor back.
What am I doing wrong? Perhaps trying to put too much tension? Perhaps the teeth in the carriage are not holding adequately the belt and needs to be reprinted?
RE: Lines too evident
Do NOT use the belt tension numbers - they are NOT telling you anything about belt tension (Prusa is plain wrong).
Turn off power, push X to the left, Y to the back. Using a trigger pull scale or similar at the middle of the lower belt in each axis, adjust tension so that when pulling 7 ounces (200 grams) you see about 1/4 inch deflection.
What the LCD display shows as belt tension is actually motor torque requirements for moving the axes back and forth, nothing at all to do with belt tension. And you want those "friction" numbers to be closer to 300 than 250. e.g., folks seeing 250 have crash problems where the motors stall due to too much bearing friction.