this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2024
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I have trouble fixing the terrible seams I'm getting. I've followed Elli's print tuning guide and calibrated extruder, tuned PA (it's now 0.035) and extrusion multiplier.

I've tried adjusting both retraction length and speed, but it doesn't seem to have much impact. I'm not using "wipe on retract" or "retract on layer change", I only retract if travel distance is longer than 3mm. Retract is 0.3mm @35mm/s.

I've tried reducing PA smooth time too, but this also doesn't seem to have a noticable impact.

I've tried reducing seam gap from the default 10% in Orca all the way down to 0%, but the bad seams persist.

I've tried with "wipe on loops" both disabled and enabled with no difference.

I've tried with both arachne and classic wall generator, no difference.

I've tried different wall orders, inner/outer, inner/outer/inner and outer/inner, all with the same bad seams.

Filament in the picture is matte PLA, it is without doubt dry and generally prints well aside from the seams. It's stored vacuum sealed with silica, and I use a filament dryer to dry if I suspect wet filament.

I'm running out of ideas for where to tweak to get a decent result.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There is a setting in super slicer called Seam gap, do you see a setting like that you can play with?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes I've already tried that, and it doesn't make much of a difference.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Wiggle the nozzle is there any slop?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

Disclaimer: I'm not into 3d printing. I'm just a wannabe with not enough time on my hands, so take this post with a bucket of salt. I have, on the other hand, worked a lot with automated machinery.

But if I were to make a guess, I would suspect some slack in either the X or Y direction, resulting in inaccuracy when the nozzle changes direction. This should in theory be less visible when the nozzle is not making sharp turns.

Are your belts tight? Any gears with poorly meshed teeth?

Also, are you able to turn the print (and the seam) 45 and 90 degrees? Do they show up just as ugly? If not, the issue is mechanically limited to one axis.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Actually yeah, you might be on to something there. OP could try adjusting belt tension.

If you do end up adjusting belt tension though, make sure to recalibrate your e-steps after.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

That retract distance seems a bit low to me. My (direct drive) printer is happier around 1mm to 1.5mm. I'm not convinced that has anything to do with your particular problem, though.

Anyhow, to my untrained eye that looks like underextrusion at layer change and/or the perimeter lines not actually hitting each other. Are you sure your pressure advance/linear advance values are correct for that filament?

Also, does Orca Slicer allow you to specify a negative value for the seam gap? If so, that might be worth fooling with to see if it has any impact. That's probably a band-aid, though. I think your issue lies in pressure advance tuning still.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (4 children)

This is the filament I've tuned PA with, and to my best ability this is what Elli's guide suggests is the optimal value 🤷‍♂️

But I agree, it does actually look like PA is tuned incorrectly and stopping extrusion too soon/starting it too late.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

Randomize Z seam and make sure your flow/retraction settings are as good as you can get them.

Messing around with your nozzle temperature might help too: Keep in mind that the thermistor in the heat block might be off by a few degrees so if you can measure the temperature directly as a comparison, it can help you figure out how much it's usually off by and adjust accordingly.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Randomised seams just spreads the issue out on the entire model surface, it looks even worse like that.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It will probably help more once your settings are dialed in, otherwise, yeah it's just going to distribute the mess. Alternately, keep everything as is and fix it up post-print via filler and sanding.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That's a really weird looking z-seam, something is going on there that I'm not quite sure the cause of.

However, in this case I think you could try randomizing z-seam position. It's not gonna fix the issue completely but it might help you with this particular part.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I've tried that, but it's still really bad, almost worse, with these scattered all over the surface.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah I thought that might happen too. I've never seen seams like that before. What temp are you printing at?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

It's printing at 200C with fan at 100%, using a 0.4mm hardened steel nozzle.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Have you ever done a PID tuning?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes, I recently switched the hotend from a proprietary one to a regular volcano hotend and did PID tuning.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Did you notice this kind of thing happening before you switched your hot end? I'm assuming you've tested printing at a higher temp already but I have to ask anyway. 200C is kinda low for some PLAs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I've tried 190-220C, which is the range specified by the manufacturer of the filament.

I don't remember seeing this issue before the change, but I'm still new to the hobby and may just have overlooked or accepted it earlier.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Is there a way I could see the file you're trying to print?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This is just the basic cylinder that's part of orca slicer that I'm using to troubleshoot the issue because it's quick to print and the issue is clearly visible.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (10 children)

Hmm, I've never tried OrcaSlicer. I'm curious, installing it now.

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[–] [email protected] -2 points 8 months ago

New Lemmy Post: How do I fix these god-awful seams? (https://lemmy.world/post/12523802)
Tagging: #3dprinting

(Replying in the OP of this thread (NOT THIS BOT!) will appear as a comment in the lemmy discussion.)

I am a FOSS bot. Check my README: https://github.com/db0/lemmy-tagginator/blob/main/README.md

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