5

Recently started using my kit Prusa I3 Mk3 and noticed that with large horizontal surfaces a wrinkling pattern is emerging.

As you can see in the image the wrinkles seem to run parallel, the surface is 10 mm above the build plate with all bridges fully supported.

Has anyone seen this before? All other areas seem to be doing well.

This print uses PLA filament @ 235 °C hotend temperature and clearly shows a wrinkled pattern on the top layer

Print showing wrinkled top layer print issue

If it helps, I haven't changed the settings from the normal Prusa Slic3r 0.15 profile.

The problem reduced to an acceptable level by reducing the temperature to 205 °C but keeping the fan speed 100 %, I am printing PLA. I might reduce the fan speed if I feel troubled by the result.

Greenonline
  • 5,831
  • 7
  • 30
  • 60
Paul V
  • 75
  • 2
  • 6
  • 2
    Hi and welcome to 3D Printing.SE! Please share some print temperature and cooling fan settings, this definitely sounds like a too hot nozzle/too much fan cooling issue. – 0scar Mar 01 '19 at 09:26
  • how many top layers do you use? – Trish Mar 01 '19 at 16:17
  • Hi Oscar, so your solutions seem to have fixed the issue, thank you very much. The temperature was set at 215 degrees C and I reduced it to 205. – Paul V Mar 04 '19 at 08:27
  • 1
    @PaulV What was the bed temperature and fan rpm setting when you had the defect? And which material are you printing, PLA? Please update the answer by [edit], thanks! With an updated question, it has much more value for other to use as a reference or for troubleshooting. – 0scar Mar 05 '19 at 08:24
  • 3 close votes? Does anyone want to admit to why? – Sean Houlihane Mar 08 '19 at 14:26
  • @SeanHoulihane it is the custom troubleshooting close afaict, so it might be because of terse information on the actual problem? – Trish Mar 09 '19 at 22:21
  • First try printing a head test tower for your PLA, because I have really good experience by using just 195 to 200°C (also colleges of mine) . How much infill do you use? Did you exactly measure the PLA filament? Did this also happend with other PLA filaments (also from other brands)? Is the nozzle in good shape? Do you use a flow of over 100% for this part of the print? – Horitsu Mar 12 '19 at 05:37
  • Hi, thank you for your comments. The problem was solved by reducing the temperature to 205deg., I kept the fan speed at 100% as is standard in the Prusa Slic3r settings. :) Thank you for all your comments and help, but as you might have noticed I marked the answer from Oscar below as the solution. – Paul V Mar 13 '19 at 07:41

2 Answers2

5

Waves in printed surfaces with FFF are observed at either the bottom layer (common) or the top layer (less common).

Waves in bottom layer

Rippling/wave generation/wrinkling is a common problem for first layer to occur and has a direct relation to the print nozzle to bed distance; a too short of a distance or over-extrusion can lead to this effect. However, this effect is less commonly observed in top layer finishes. Bottom layer waves are described in more detail in this answer.

Waves in top layer

I have seen this defect before. It is caused by a combination of incorrect hotend temperature and print cooling fan settings. Please reduce the hotend temperature and reduce the fan cooling. The image below clearly shows the differences of such measures.

Solving waves in top layer of print

Community
  • 1
0scar
  • 32,029
  • 10
  • 59
  • 135
4

Might just be that you are bridging without collapsing but still have some visible sag. Things to try:

1) increase the support/infil density. If slic3r has a configurable setting like Cura does, you only need to increase the density for the last couple mm prior to the top layer.

2) increase the top plate thickness (number of extruded layers). This often allows the first extruded layer to sag, but the final layer or two to be quite flat.

Carl Witthoft
  • 3,008
  • 1
  • 9
  • 15
  • 1
    I usually use 5 top layers and get most often a decent surface, if I need it *really* well, I pack 6. – Trish Mar 01 '19 at 16:18
  • Hi, the infill is 20% and the whole surface is supported (even the bridges) I was able to recreate the problem on a small 30 minute print, reducing the temperature to 205 degrees C seems to help. Now getting into trouble with bed adhesion but the wrinkles on the small test are gone :) – Paul V Mar 04 '19 at 08:26