Suggestions needed to fix a poor print

jens55

I have had some issues with print quality but they were never enough to really worry about. Yesterday I printed a particular part on my Jubilee printer in PETG and it came out very poorly. I turned around and printed the same part in ABS on a CR10 based printer. One side came out reasonable but 3 sides were crap. Here are the pictures of the ABS print of two different sides. PETG print was even rougher looking (on all 4 sides)
Off hand I have no idea of what I could try to change in my settings to improve the print quality and I could use some suggestions.
BTW, I use PrusaSlicer.2.9 stepper cage 1.jpg stepper cage 2.jpg

jumpedwithbothfeet

@jens55 just my 2 pence, first thoughts were part cooling, but looking closer at your print you have some bad ringing and/or under extrusion, maybe check over your printer make sure nothing is loose and then run some test prints and start eliminating things.

jens55

@jumpedwithbothfeet, thanks! I did notice the ringing but I was more concerned about the crappy three other sides. I was thinking that pressure advance would cause the ringing because that is something I have been struggling with. I can't understand how one side could be nice and crisp but the other sides are crappy. The print orientation was with the left end sitting on the build plate so I was expecting all sides to have more or less equal print quality. Also, this is the print from a second printer with the first printer producing crap on all four sides. It is likely that both printers have more or less equal settings (other than what is required for the different filaments) so I was thinking that parameters would be a better explanation.
I will verify that everything is tight.

jay_s_uk

@jens55 what firmware version?

jens55

@jay_s_uk, 3.5.1 for both printers.

jay_s_uk

@jens55 I would say give 3.6b3 a go when that comes out. PA and IS have had big improvements

engikeneer

@jens55 for the PETG one, have you dried your filament? It can absorb a lot of water which will give rough bits that then affect the next layer etc, plus curling, poor adhesion and other print defects.

ABS one might be cooling depending on where your fan points?

Edit: I'd also look at where your seam is. Seems like a lot of them are starting on an overhang which is not great...

jens55

@engikeneer, thanks for that suggestion - no the PETG was not dried and yes, I have seen the difference in print quality but for some reason it didn't occur to me to try that. I will dry it overnight and try again tomorrow.

On the ABS, I have very little (practically nil) cooling and it is an enclosed printer. I could see two sides being good and two sides being bad if it was a fan issue but why would only one side turn out nice?

I will check on the seam ... again something I didn't think of checking!

jens55

@jay_s_uk, I have had bad luck with beta builds before and I was waiting for 3.6. I was aware of the improvements and was looking forward to 3.6 being released to try that out.

jay_s_uk

@jens55 you'll be waiting a while then.
I've been ruining 3.6 since beta 1 came out

jens55

@jay_s_uk, thanks, I might give it a try if things don't improve with the dried filament. I will do another print tomorrow morning.

jens55

Just as a follow up, I am happy to report that drying the PETG helped quite a bit. While the new print isn't perfect, I can't call it a 'dogs breakfast'. Besides drying the filament, I also went with random seams as all other choices ended up putting the seams on the overhangs.