TLDR: I'm fairly new to 3d printing and would like to improve on this https://imgur.com/a/R8NrPRo
Some more background: I messed around with 3d printers at a local FabLab and was convinced to start to build my own by somebody there.
So my first own 3d printer is a self-built one. I built a Hypercube (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1752766) which was slightly modified (a bit taller and some more metal parts instead of 3d printed). It's basically a very sturdy framed CoreXY bowden printer.
It's been printing reasonably (as seen here https://i.imgur.com/tmc50F4.jpg) and the Duet WiFi i have is a joy to work with. Initially i had a bunch of tweaking to do but it seems one of the last things i need to work out is this inconsistent layer problem that ive linked before. Lots of my fellow hobbyists say that the quality i'm getting is good but i'm a bit of a perfectionist and i would like to try to improve.
I slice with the latest version of cura, i've did the math on what kinds of z steps i can make, i've experimented with jerk, acceleration, i put in a geared nema 17 at some point to try and increase the step resolution (did help a tiny bit but not much), i've tried several brands of PLA, calibrated e-steps, etc. I feel like i'm getting closer to the root of the issue but there is still something preventing 'perfect' prints.
I compared my own little towers (as i show in the picture album initially) to a similar one printed on a Ultimaker 3E with effectively the same slicing settings and while that too has a slight inconsistency its a lot less than my own.
Maybe this is a lot to ask and take in but i would greatly appreciate any help feedback or guides. I'm starting to feel at sort of a loss here.
Happy to supply more details if need be but there could be so many causes that i'm not sure what to attach
Thanks a bunch
Software Information
Firmware Name: RepRapFirmware for Duet 2 WiFi/Ethernet
Firmware Electronics: Duet WiFi 1.02 or later
Firmware Version: 2.01(RTOS) (2018-07-26b2)
WiFi Server Version: 1.21
Web Interface Version: 1.22.3
Cura Engine 3.6.0
Hardware Info
Printer: Hypercube
Hotend: e3dv6 clone
Extruder: Bowden Type (https://tinyurl.com/y96n3xg8)
Nema 17: Nanotec ST4118L1804-A
PSU: 24v 25A Meanwell (way overkill but i had this available)