3D printer always has gaps between lines

[Levent]

Hi there, I am having this weird issue with my Anet A8. I am using Marlin 1.1.8 (for some reason 1.1.9 has issues with stepper drivers and it cant move extruder when heatbed pid is enabled)

• I have heatbed and nozzle pid set.
• I use a glass on top of the heatbed and its secured nicely.
• Belts are tight (almost feel like a bass guitar at this point)
• Printer is zeroed perfectly (using A4 paper)
• I have tried 3 different 0.4mm nozzles and even made sure they were 0.4mm (using vape wires)
• I have tried different PLA filaments (although from the same company and same production batch and all the filaments I have are over 2 months old), different temperatures.
• I have tried different extrusion multipliers in simplify3d this although fixed gaps resulted in major over extrusion.
• I have calibrated the steps per mm of the extruder.
• Issue persists on all layers not just first layer, and top layer always comes up scarred and sometimes underextruded.
• I have tried using stock anet a8 profile of marlin and S3d and I just get over extrusion.
• I made sure everything slides smoothly and there are no hiccups
• Carriage thingy is leveled.

I am really lost at this point, any help is appreciated.

I'll add a photo in a sec.

[alexbsajackson]

I think I understand what you are asking, but can you please show a photo?

[Levent]

2 minutes ago, alexbsajackson said:

I think I understand what you are asking, but can you please show a photo?

here it is

[alexbsajackson]

what are your slicer settings?

[Levent]

7 minutes ago, alexbsajackson said:

what are your slicer settings?

edit here you go

[TrigrH]

Quote

Your printer has backlash on either the X or Y axis: Every time it makes a move, when it moves back the other way it has to take up slack first, then it moves.
This means that lines that are at diagonals won't print correctly at all, every second set with be closer than they should be to each other. You need to make sure there isn't any slack in your belts, I haven't owned an Anet but this is pretty universal. There should be some sort of belt tensioning system on each axis. Don't overtighten because it can cause excessive wear on the belts and the axis bearings"

 

[Levent]

13 minutes ago, TrigrH said:

 

I havent thought about backlash before, I am certain that my X belt is tight enough (belt is brand new I installed it last night along with a tensioner), I also adjusted the Y belt again.

[Hackentosher]

looks like you're under extruding. Try turning up your flow, slowing down, and maybe bump up your temperature.

[tikker]

4 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

looks like you're under extruding. Try turning up your flow, slowing down, and maybe bump up your temperature.

This would be my first guess as well. Or bring the print bed slightly closer (if possible).

[Levent]

4 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

looks like you're under extruding. Try turning up your flow, slowing down, and maybe bump up your temperature.

 

9 minutes ago, tikker said:

This would be my first guess as well. Or bring the print bed slightly closer (if possible).

I calibrated extrusion by adjusting steps per mm and its dead on. I am thinking either the board is malfunctioning or the way I bundled extruder cable is causing issues. I will check it out tomorrow and update you guys.

[tikker]

16 minutes ago, Levent said:

 

I calibrated extrusion by adjusting steps per mm and its dead on. I am thinking either the board is malfunctioning or the way I bundled extruder cable is causing issues. I will check it out tomorrow and update you guys.

That magic number is mostly for vertical movement though. Cranking up the flow or temperature is easy enough to test.

[Hackentosher]

23 hours ago, Levent said:

 

I calibrated extrusion by adjusting steps per mm and its dead on. I am thinking either the board is malfunctioning or the way I bundled extruder cable is causing issues. I will check it out tomorrow and update you guys.

Underextrusion can be caused by a myriad of things, one of which is an uncalibrated extruder. Try changing the settings I recommended.

[Levent]

33 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

Underextrusion can be caused by a myriad of things, one of which is an uncalibrated extruder. Try changing the settings I recommended.

I have, now I am overextruding on top layer. Maybe the way I am calibrating is wrong?

[Hackentosher]

8 hours ago, Levent said:

I have, now I am overextruding on top layer. Maybe the way I am calibrating is wrong?

You may have over done it then. This part of 3D printing is more art then science, you'll just have to play around with it.

[Levent]

7 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

You may have over done it then. This part of 3D printing is more art then science, you'll just have to play around with it.

few things I noticed today, if I extrude at relatively slow extrusion speeds (45-50mm/s) it under extrudes, but if I bump the extrusion speed to 70-100mm/s it overextrudes. I am thinking that board is not supplying enough current (which is non changeable). Also another thing I noticed, 0.1mm layer height ALWAYS underextrudes while 0.2m prints fine and 0.3 over extrudes.

[Hackentosher]

5 hours ago, Levent said:

few things I noticed today, if I extrude at relatively slow extrusion speeds (45-50mm/s) it under extrudes, but if I bump the extrusion speed to 70-100mm/s it overextrudes. I am thinking that board is not supplying enough current (which is non changeable). Also another thing I noticed, 0.1mm layer height ALWAYS underextrudes while 0.2m prints fine and 0.3 over extrudes.

That relationship you noticed with the speeds should be reversed. It may be that you're trying to push so much material that you're overpressuring the nozzle. Try turning down the temp and extruder flow. Exactly what settings are you trying to use?

[Levent]

3 minutes ago, Hackentosher said:

That relationship you noticed with the speeds should be reversed. It may be that you're trying to push so much material that you're overpressuring the nozzle. Try turning down the temp and extruder flow. Exactly what settings are you trying to use?

what do you mean? I usually print at 0.2layer height with 0.4 nozzle (although I have 0.1 and 0.2 nozzles). I wonder if this could be backlash (which also brings the question what could cause backlash even when belts are tight?)

[Hackentosher]

1 hour ago, Levent said:

what do you mean? I usually print at 0.2layer height with 0.4 nozzle (although I have 0.1 and 0.2 nozzles). I wonder if this could be backlash (which also brings the question what could cause backlash even when belts are tight?)

It's probably not backlash. Do you remember when you were a little kid and you sometimes had to take medicine from a syringe? If you ever played with those, you may have noticed that if you put your finger really close or up to the nozzle and tried to push the plunger, it was really difficult, or you couldn't depress it at all. it's the same concept with a 3d printer nozzle, only you don't have the luxury of trying to move a compressible fluid. Pressure builds in the nozzle as you try to force material out between the nozzle and the build plate. If you have too much pressure because you're trying to extrude too hard, it can backup and cause under extrusion. This is why you may experience underextrusion when you turn your flow up really high.

[makersmuse]

Extrusion multiplier is set to 0.5, why? It should be 0.95 or 1. Could be just that one setting in S3D tbh.

EDIT: Read back through thread and saw you mentioned the multiplier, but not sure if you calibrated esteps before or after tweaking with it. By default it should be pretty close to the money at 0.95 if esteps are correct, nozzle dia is correct and filament dia is correct. If not there is a possibility that molten plastic is 'pooling' behind the nozzle so you get almost no extrusion control. I had this on a bowden extruder on the ender 3 but the A8 is direct drive, so small chance it's a gap between the extruder throat and nozzle. Good luck! A8 is very much DIY.

[Levent]

On 10/2/2018 at 9:46 AM, makersmuse said:

Extrusion multiplier is set to 0.5, why? It should be 0.95 or 1. Could be just that one setting in S3D tbh.

EDIT: Read back through thread and saw you mentioned the multiplier, but not sure if you calibrated esteps before or after tweaking with it. By default it should be pretty close to the money at 0.95 if esteps are correct, nozzle dia is correct and filament dia is correct. If not there is a possibility that molten plastic is 'pooling' behind the nozzle so you get almost no extrusion control. I had this on a bowden extruder on the ender 3 but the A8 is direct drive, so small chance it's a gap between the extruder throat and nozzle. Good luck! A8 is very much DIY.

That extrusion multiplier was 0.5 because I was trying to calibrate wall thickness (which ended up causing more issues so I just reverted everything to stock profile and started again). Sadly issue still persists, first layer always has gaps between lines and top layer always over extrudes (or it looks like that way) even after dead on extruder steps calibration. I probably should mention I even switched between 2 0.4mm nozzles and this issue doesnt seem to be affected by it (also love your videos and they also make me sad because I never got prints as high quality as yours). 

[tikker]

Maybe this test can give some insight: https://community.ultimaker.com/topic/13122-consistent-gaps-between-the-lines-of-infill/?tab=comments#comment-140174

It's trying different speeds combined with different temperatures to see how fast you can extrude. I know you said you tried different temperatures, but maybe it's a combination effect.

 

Also, you have infill set to 95%, does it also occur if you select 100% infill? To eliminate an anomaly here (still doesn't explain the first layer, but might explain intermediate layers).