Discussion: Is the Prusa XL prone to generating perfectly spaced VFAs or are they isolated cases?
Hello community,
we started the discussion of visual defects on Prusa XL prints in this thread here: Ringing Patterns on the XL
Here you can find a description of what I am talking about: https://ellis3dp.com/Print-Tuning-Guide/articles/troubleshooting/vfas.html
After many hours of troubleshooting and writing back and forth with Prusa support, I am sure these are VFAs in a perfect 2mm spacing, being caused somewhere at the XL gantry, the belt, or the motors. Since then I found many many more examples of other users, that show the same pattern. And now I cannot unsee it anymore. And I don't want to have them in the first place on a printer that expensive. I know for certain that thera are many CoreXY printers that do not have VFAs at all.
I uploaded a pre-sliced Orca Slicer generated VFA test for the Prusa XL on Printables.
You can generate the gcode yourself, instructions are in the description on Printables. There is also a list of some examples that show VFAs, even on Prusa's promotional pictures and videos.
So I would like to ask you: Do you have the same problem on your XL, can you confirm or disprove my sightings? Are you willing to print the gcode or generate it with Orca Slicer and post your Makes here and on Printables?
So far, the contact with Prusa was nice and friendly as always, but without meaningful results.
Thank you so far! Greetings,
B
VFA and ringing/ghosting on Prusa XL
Hi!
First off, @be-me, your reporting on this issue has been phenomenal. I really appreciate your consistent updates in the forum—it's been more helpful than you might realize!
Second, I’m also experiencing this issue on my Prusa XL 2T. While my VFAs are a bit more subtle, they're still noticeable, and I'm seeing significant ringing/ghosting when printing letters or any 0.4mm indents. I plan to try some of the suggestions you mentioned in the other thread and will share an update once I do.
Here’s a picture showing the ringing/ghosting problem:
RE: Discussion: Is the Prusa XL prone to generating perfectly spaced VFAs or are they isolated cases?
I can confirm this problem on my new Prusa XL I recently upgraded from 2 to 5 toolheads.
These VFA only occur on the X axis. Through all toolheads. I also checked for the correct belt tension with the Prusa Belt beta app.
RE: Discussion: Is the Prusa XL prone to generating perfectly spaced VFAs or are they isolated cases?
curious about this as it is a deal breaker for me...
have you found a solution?
RE: Discussion: Is the Prusa XL prone to generating perfectly spaced VFAs or are they isolated cases?
Tighten your belts. I'd recommend about 1/4 a turn at a time. Follow the instructions for belt tightening ensuring that both sides of the gantry come all the way to the front and don't move when you squeeze them.
After tightening rerun input shaping calibration.
Then run another test print and examine for improvements.
Repeat as necessary until you see satisfactory results.
I did this based on recommendations from Prusa support and it greatly improved the VFA's.
Apparently the belt tuner app doesn't get them tight enough. I was told to disregard what the tuner app was saying.
Even though VFA's have greatly improved on my printer, however I will say that it's still not as good as my MK4. That prints near flawless.
I've actually got a ticket in on GitHub for improved input shaping calibration in the firmware. I don't think it's working a well as it should. I would expect the core xy design of the XL to be able to print as good as the MK4.
RE: Discussion: Is the Prusa XL prone to generating perfectly spaced VFAs or are they isolated cases?
That is very disappointing. I am on the fence considering the XL but I won't if it prints with vfa. I sold another printer for having this issue, also a core xy design and don't want to repeat this mistake twice.
RE: Discussion: Is the Prusa XL prone to generating perfectly spaced VFAs or are they isolated cases?
Thank you very much! Just to get a reference: What values does the belt tuner app report for you now?
RE: Discussion: Is the Prusa XL prone to generating perfectly spaced VFAs or are they isolated cases?
Thank you very much! Just to get a reference: What values does the belt tuner app report for you now?
I'm not at home to see, but it said too tight. If you want actual frequencies i can try to get that later, but I'm not so sure how well they will translate. I think the belt tuner app is a cool idea, and using frequency is a good way to measure belt tension, however my suspect is that there are too many variables with different phones, different microphone locations, ambient noise etc.
In addition I've found the web based tuner app kinda laggy and inconsistent. I'm thinking like an actual guitar tuner or something might be more reliable.
Its been a month or so since I did it, but it seems like I landed on 1/2 turn tighter than what I had it by using the belt tuner app. I didn't go tighter to see if I could get even more improvement, but it's something I may try in the future.