3D Printing My Design Appears to Have Lines Throughout It In A Non Circular Shape - Not Printing As Intended

[dwphilbrick]

I created this design to replace the cracked top of a device I have. The design looks great in Fusion360, but upon printing, the circle has lines going through it in an odd pattern. At first, I thought there was an issue with my printer but I printed the design with a raft and the raft circle came out perfectly smooth and circular. Hopefully, someone can help me pinpoint if this issue is caused from a flaw in my design or something else I am missing, that I can hopefully rectify! I included photos from Fusion360, while my printer is printing(showing the weird line patterns), and the final product(showing a very smooth raft, but the bottom of my design is very rough with lines going through it, and the top side(where the screw holes are) there are some line patterns appearing. If there is anything missing that might help solve this, please let me know!

   

 

 

 

 

[laughingcreek]

probably settings in your slicer.  attach your model (export as .f3d first) and someone can look if there's any weirdness in the model

[Drewpan]

Hi,

From the looks of it it might be an issue with Cura settings. If you get onto the Cura website there are a few

pictures of issues and what causes them and how to fix them and then pop your Google Goggles on and have

a look for similar posts. I learned a huge amount doing this.

The "lines" appear to be where the internally generated supports are and the printer is stringing between the

supports, turning off then continuing the string from the other side of the support.

There is also a section where it looks like the surface is a little thin. I would thicken up the walls which is a setting

in Cura. There are options to set thickness on sides, top and bottom, depending on what "level" on Settings you

are on. I would also run the print head a little hotter than it recommends 5-8 degrees. It will make the plastic

filament "flow" better that can sometimes make a huge difference. Running slightly slower can also affect

printing quality.

It is well worth playing with the more advanced settings on Cura but you will waste a bit of filament learning.

3D Printers all use pretty much the same Hardware from limited Manufacturers, so most problems are well

known. The Combinations of the different Standard parts make each machine fickle in its own way, even the

same Brand and Type side by side because of tiny differences between them.

If you are serious about getting really good 3D Prints then you will waste a lot of filament testing to get the

best results, but once you are on top of these settings it will be well worth it. The Experimental Settings in Cura

have some interesting developments worth getting to know. I feel like I wasted Kilometres of filament but

the end results were pretty good.

While it may be your design, I think it is far more likely to be Cura.

Hope this helps.

Andrew

[TheCADWhisperer]

@dwphilbrick 

Can you File>Export your *.f3d file to your local drive and then Attach it here to a Reply?

Also, attach the resulting *.stl file.

[dwphilbrick]

@TheCADWhisperer @laughingcreek Attached are the .f3d and the .stl from Fusion! @Drewpan I will definitely implement those changes in Cura. I also just updated from UltiMaker from 5.0.1 to 5.3.1. I wasn't sure if there was a route to thicken the wall in Fusion, or if that should all be done in UltiMaker...to my eye it looks solid but I wasn't sure if I accidentally made it hollow. I really appreciate the quick and detailed response from everyone!

[etfrench · Accepted solution]

The Fusion 360 model looks fine.  The stl looks good in SuperSlicer.  That indicates your printer needs to be calibrated😁 Your first image confirms this.

This calibration guide is very good.

[dwphilbrick]

Gotcha, I am a bit confused because I have been able to print other models a few days before, with really good quality and no issues. Similarly, from one of images I included, when I tried to print the model with a raft, the raft was a perfectly smooth circle and things only go wacky with the lines, once the printer got to my actual design, above the raft. Regardless I am going to go through the calibration guide and confirm!

[laughingcreek]

I would try thickening the bottom from 2.5 mm to 3 or 4 mm.  if that print s properly then it's definitely a setting in your slicer.

what do the extrusion paths look like at a cross section at one of the posts?-

here-

[dwphilbrick]

I just doubled the wall thickness in Cura from 0.8 to 1.6, as well as increased the print temp from 200 to 205. My first layer is a weird non-perfect circle...This would maybe point to an issue with the model itself?

[dwphilbrick]

Hey just saw this while I was typing a reply. Let me try and make those changes in Fusion!

[dwphilbrick]

In Cura, the preview seems to be bugged out(it has been for a while despite updating to newer versions) it doesn't show the full preview it basically just shows me the last layer or so...any other way to see the intersection lines to answer your question?

 

[etfrench]

Set the layer height using the scroll bar on the right hand side of the screen and use the bottom scroll bar to see the path on that layer.

[HughesTooling]

Is the head actually following this shape or is the extrusion being dragged and not sticking to the platform?

[HughesTooling]

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@dwphilbrick wrote:

 Similarly, from one of images I included, when I tried to print the model with a raft, the raft was a perfectly smooth circle and things only go wacky with the lines, once the printer got to my actual design, above the raft. Regardless I am going to go through the calibration guide and confirm!

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Looking at the raft it looks like it's just a back and forth movement with no circles around the outside. The outer edge also looks a bit ragid. 

And like I said above it looks like the filament is being dragged before it sticks so you end up printing over the filament that's in the wrong place.

[dwphilbrick]

@laughingcreek  I tried a different slicer(Creality Slicer) and got this, so this would point to an issue with my model? As a noob to Fusion360, what would be the best way to go about thickening the bottom? Solid extrude up a bit more?

[dwphilbrick]

It is not dragging, it is actually following that odd circle shape.

[laughingcreek]

see what hughestooling said in previous post.

this picture looks like a calibration problem.  first layer not squishing down good. 

[etfrench]

Printer definitely needs calibrating😁

[HughesTooling]

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@dwphilbrick wrote:

I just doubled the wall thickness in Cura from 0.8 to 1.6, as well as increased the print temp from 200 to 205. My first layer is a weird non-perfect circle...This would maybe point to an issue with the model itself?

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What material are you printing? For the first layer even for PLA that seems a bit cold and what temp is the bed? Are you also printing the first layer at a slower speed?

[dwphilbrick]

It looks like my printer was long overdue for a calibration! I was able to successfully print this design. I am noticing one thicker line coming from the base of each screw hole, which I am trying to figure out why, but besides that, I am very happy to have smoothly printed this, and greatly appreciate everyone that helped troubleshoot what was going on!