HELP- Terrible print quality - Prusa i3

I have recently build my first 3D printer, however I'm having issues with my prints.I think I have the bed levelled properly. I'm using cura 15.04.3, with the following settings:
Quality
Layer height 0.1
Shell thickness 0.8

Fill
Bottom/Top Thickness 0.6
Fill Density 17

Speed and Temperature
Print Speed 100
Print Temp 190
Bed Temp 60

No Support

Filament
Diameter 1.75
Flow 95

Machine
Nozzle size 0.4

Retraction
Speed 35
Distance 4.5

Quality
Initial layer thickness 0.2
Line width 100

Speed
travel speed 80
bottom layer speed 30

This is what I get on a 20mm Test Cube:


Thanks in advance

Your settings doesn't seem verry odd. Maybe it's your firmware settings which have to be tuned? Like your steps/mm and accelerations/speeds.
Maybe you can us more info about your firmware?

(btw your travel speed can be higher then your printing speed)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2016 04:36PM by Rockel83.

Where can I find that information ?
Sorry if that's a stupid question but I'm very new to this.

Quote
Glenelg96
Where can I find that information ?
Sorry if that's a stupid question but I'm very new to this.

There's no need to be sorry. 3D-printing can be verry complex and complicated. Especially when you've build your own printer for the first time. And that's also where this forum is for.

You can send the gcode M503 to your printer. You will recieve your current EEPROM settings then if i'm correct. I used Repetier Host for this before.
Repetier Host has the advantage that you can also view and change your EEPROM settings in the menubalk above. Alternatively you can change the settings from this using Gcode (I found the EEPROM screen more practical).
Once your printer is configured, you can also integrate Cura into it for slicing.

I suppose that you didn't have calibrated your printer yet if you could not find your EEPROM (firmware) settings? You can calculate your firmware settings using this calculator.

My settings for example are:

(side note: these settings don't have to be the correct ones for your printer)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2016 05:51PM by Rockel83.

This is my current settings. I'm not really sure what I should change.

I think it is the extruder causing the issues so, I altered the E steps and got a better looking test print however it did not save after turning off the printer
Thanks again for your help

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2016 04:33PM by Glenelg96.

Maybe you could look at your steps/mm (z-axis) and your acceleration settings. They look a bit high to me.
You could try my settings if you like. And adjust them up if it works and your printer can handle it.

I don't know if you've already callibrated your hardware?

Ive got a much better print now still needs a lot of work though.


I only changed the print speed to 20 and changed the steps per mm E to 93

I have done the paper method by putting paper under the head at each corner and in the centre. I'm not sure if I've done it correctly though.

When I save to eeprom the next time I turn on the printer or a print finishes the settings have been restored to factory, any idea how to fix this ?

That looks much better already!
Maybe you could try lowering the E acceleration aswel. It seems verry high to me.
Looks like you also have some issues at the right side of the new printed cube. Maybe you could also try lowering x and y acceleration.

The paper method (bed leveling) is important for print adhesion. It should not solve your current print problem.

And about your saving problems, maybe you could try using gcode te set the given values.

Saving to EEPROM have you enabled this function in the firmware?

I'm unable to work on it for the next few nights but how do I go about enabling that in the firmware? Wasn't a thing I knew I had to enable.
Thanks

I have looked more into it and does anyone know a way of getting the current firmware back, as my board came pre-configured with marlin.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2016 09:22AM by Glenelg96.

I have tweaked a lot and got my prints a lot better. However the extruder motor keeps jumping which is the main issue preventing me from getting good accurate prints, the print sizes are all correct on a 20mm cube. I ab getting areas in the print which have over extruded and other part which have neXT to no extrusion.
Thanks again

Problems which can cause skipping extruder:
- Tension of filament screw/spring to high or to low, try adjusting it and see if it helps.
- Acceleration maybe to high? (check firmware).
- Not enough current to stepper motor (you can adjust it with potmeter on stepper controller in case of RAMPS).
- If turning up the current to the stepper motor wont help much (keep the motor temperature in mind) then it's possible that the extruder motor doesn't deliver enough torque. Then replace
it with a "stronger" motor (this solved my issues concerning a skipping extruder motor).
- When al of the above is correct, calibrate your Esteps again.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2016 09:35AM by Rockel83.

190 is a bit low for a hotend temperature. I have found good bonding and minimal ooze at 212. Some people go down to 180.. I have no idea how the plastic sticks to itself at all when it is that cold.

For the firmware...
I tell everyone here that needs to change their firmware settings that, unless you have the original Arduino files on hand, you will need to configure a brand new firmware file set to begin tuning. This isn't that hard with the original files on hand; you can look back and forth. With brand new files I can't imagine that it would be much more difficult, as the settings are somewhat general and anything will work, albeit not well.

When they ask why...
The arduino files look like this:
>do thing #1
>do thing #2 at 100mm/s
>stop
>do thing #1 again, twice

The .HEX file, what you get when you compile it, looks like this
afhalksdjfhslkjfhaskldfjahsdlkfjhasdflkjadshfkljasdhfkjasdhfklasdjfhasdklfh

That's what gets uploaded. Anyway, you can only change the settings directly from the source.

As a second thought, try printing at a higher temp, and much slower. This way you can literally see where and why it is messing up, whether it be under extrusion, lack of overlap,etc.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2016 10:53AM by Montiey.

---

Master Tinkerer

Quote
Montiey
190 is a bit low for a hotend temperature. I have found good bonding and minimal ooze at 212. Some people go down to 180.. I have no idea how the plastic sticks to itself at all when it is that cold.

The nozzle temperature really depends on the filament you're using. I'm now using PLA filament at a nozzle temperature of 200c. But before I used PLA which build up nicely at 190c. I've printed a thin wall test cube with this filament, and higered the temperature every 15 layers. When I've reached about 200c this PLA started to show blobs and imperfections. Temperature is not only depending of the material properties of the filament but also colours can have some influence. Just keep in between of the temperature range the suplier mentioned at their products

I have found that my nozzle had an imperfection as well as my x-y beam (which was 3d printed) was skewed. Both parts have been replaced so no longer have a slip with the filament when being fed and now the filament flows much better still having some issues with print quality but things are looking up
I am currently printing some test prints, when they get finished I will update (and probably ask how to fix them). I should also say fixed the firmware issues not just trying to tweak things for a better print.

Thanks again

My prints are 100 times better have little tweaks to do but thanks for your help.

Wow, that's beginning to look pretty nice already!
You've made a start now

Great improvement! I remember when my nozzles were that clean - wish they stayed that way

100mm/sec print speed is high. Slow down and enjoy the ride.