Layer misalignment on X and Y

Hello everyone, this is my first post here on the reprap community, and I'm glad to be a new "member of the family".

I've got a prusa i3, and been using it for the past 2 weeks. I've been able to solve every problem I got with the machine so far (from assembly to calibration), but there is something I'm currently stuck with.

Basically I'm having a zigzag pattern in my prints, both in the X and Y axis. I thought it was the belt tension problem, and have tighten it a lot more, but that does not seem to have fixed the problem. Not sure how tight it should be, or if I should tighten it even more, but I think I might break something if I do

Attached is a photo that clearly illustrate my problem, and If anyone has any idea how to fix this I would be very grateful!


Material ABS
230C 100C Bed
0.1 layer height and 0.4 nozzle size (0.2 layer height produces similar results)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2014 01:57PM by Esteves.

Does the pitch of your Z-axis screws match that of the spacing of the ribbing on your part?

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Yes, actually I think it does. What does that mean?

That means, most likely, that wobble due to your Z screws not being perfectly straight is being transmitted into your part. Several solutions exist to counter that.

1. Get perfectly straight threaded rod. Harder said than done.
2. Make sure your Z threaded rods are unconstrained, so that wobble won't force your X axis around. Only the end attached to the Z motors should be fixed.
3. Use smaller diameter threaded rod for your Z axis. What size is on your machine currently?
4. Decouple the Z nuts from the X axis, something like this: [www.thingiverse.com]

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