Bad print quality

Support&troubleshooting Zortrax M200
#1

Hi guys,

I've been using my Zortrax M200 for over 3300 hours now, and it's still going strong 24/7. However, I've started to observe abnormalities for a while now, and I really hope I can get help with that here. First, I've attached pictures of a print that's kinda of the portrait of the worst case of bad prints I'm getting here. I also attached the STL and ZCode. 

First, picture 2624 shows that the print is kinda "kinda" bubbly at the surface. This started to happen with the last roll of material I received, so I think it may be related to a bad spool, but any hint on that would be great.

Picture 2625 is when it gets interesting. The support is hard to remove, and the bottom layer seems really fragile and not at all straight and smooth. My guess is that it may have something to do with axes (X'Y or Z) or with temperature, but I'm in the dark here.

Picture 2624 shows that layers right after the support are really messy, even tho it is a vertical surface. Again my guess turns around axes and tempurature.

I need to mention the following:

It happens with all my nozzles

I calibrate the platform often

The heater/thermocouple was replaced like a week ago

The platform is new

The platform cable is also new

We changed the axes bearing right after this print so I don't have any feedback on this replacement. However, comparing the new and old bearings, they were pretty much all OK, so I would not count on that.

I think this may be related to the extruder PCB? Or the extruder cable? These are pretty much the only things that we did not look into so I'd like to have your hints on that before switching anything else.

I'd like to mention that we normally get better quality prints, but sometime extreme cases like the one showed in the pictures.

Thanks for your time guys!!   

#2

What material are you using? What are your print parameters? What version of ZSuite are you using? 

#3

Hi guys,

I've been using my Zortrax M200 for over 3300 hours now, and it's still going strong 24/7. However, I've started to observe abnormalities for a while now, and I really hope I can get help with that here. First, I've attached pictures of a print that's kinda of the portrait of the worst case of bad prints I'm getting here. I also attached the STL and ZCode. 

First, picture 2624 shows that the print is kinda "kinda" bubbly at the surface. This started to happen with the last roll of material I received, so I think it may be related to a bad spool, but any hint on that would be great.

Picture 2625 is when it gets interesting. The support is hard to remove, and the bottom layer seems really fragile and not at all straight and smooth. My guess is that it may have something to do with axes (X'Y or Z) or with temperature, but I'm in the dark here.

Picture 2624 shows that layers right after the support are really messy, even tho it is a vertical surface. Again my guess turns around axes and tempurature.

I need to mention the following:

It happens with all my nozzles

I calibrate the platform often

The heater/thermocouple was replaced like a week ago

The platform is new

The platform cable is also new

We changed the axes bearing right after this print so I don't have any feedback on this replacement. However, comparing the new and old bearings, they were pretty much all OK, so I would not count on that.

I think this may be related to the extruder PCB? Or the extruder cable? These are pretty much the only things that we did not look into so I'd like to have your hints on that before switching anything else.

I'd like to mention that we normally get better quality prints, but sometime extreme cases like the one showed in the pictures.

Thanks for your time guys!!   

I've performed a test print using your .zcode file (the green model). I haven't noticed any "bubbles" on the surface, but the layers over the support are really messy, indeed. Regarding the problem with mentioned "bubbles" - are they visible with every spool you use? Maybe only the current one is faulty.

Next, I’ve created another .zcode file (Z-SUITE 2.6.2; layer thickness 0.19; quality: high; infill: 10%; legacy support) and, as you can see (the black model), it looks really nice. There are no ugly overhangs and support was quite easy to remove. Thus, try with these settings and let us know about the results.

#4

I'd be curious to know if the original settings are .29 and Z-ABS as those are the settings we use and have had varying quality issues with newer versions of ZSuite. ;-)

#5

Hi guys,

Thanks for your answers! About the bad quality after support, I realised that the intern here had set the layers to .39 which explains the bad quality! I was not away that the layers where so thick, I thought it was our usual .19 maybe .29. My bad...

About the bubble, they appear on pretty much every print since we use the spools we recently bought on sale (Warm Grey ABS, the black spool seems to be the old version, not the new one with the material's specs). I guess it has something to do with the roll being old?

Have a good day!

#6

Here are some tips to take care of the filaments (including drying).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlmCc-vRNr0