ABS Rippling Badly

I used Hatchbox ABS with my Mini, 0.2mm layer height, 230C, and it has massive rippling on the right side, but the left is clean. Any ideas what is causing it? Temp too low? Print speed too fast?

This has only happened on Hatchbox ABS, I never had this problem with Colorfab nGen.

Front:
box-front.jpg
Right:
box-front.jpg
Rear:
box-front.jpg
Left:
box-front.jpg
box-rear.jpg
box-left.jpg
box-right.jpg

That’s actually a pretty cool looking effect.

I sometimes get something similar on my 'Mini. I think it has something to do with the fact that the 'Mini only has a print cooling fan on one side (the TAZ has dual fans on both sides).

It might also be “ringing”:
https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/#vibrations-and-ringing
Try printing slower and see if it goes away.

Could be your bearings. How old is the printer?

Its not the printer, its just over a year old. I printed the same thing in Colorfabb nGen and it came out looking perfect. Problem is nGen is brittle and nowhere near as strong as ABS; the thin walls of the box snapped off at the base while trying to remove it from the bed. I also noticed the printer going nuts trying to put vertical stripes up the sides. That was probably part of the problem. I’m thinking a combination of dust on the rails and lack of proper bed adhesion (I did notice some warping at the base of the ABS print).

Don’t recall seeing that before… it seems like a small deviation in the x and or y axis. I think you’re on the right path in checking that the rails are clean. Also check the bearing holders underneath the bed and on the X-carriage.

Have you considered switching to metal linear bearing and hardened steel rods? Many folks feel its a worthwhile upgrade to the stock polymer bushings… A search of the forums “hardened rods” or linear bearings for more information.

I’m saying there’s not a thing wrong with the printer. I am printing a box of a different design out of nGen as I type this and it looks perfect (as most of my prints do with nGen). It’s either the material (defective, inconsistent diameter, absorbed water, etc.) or some setting in Cura.

It has been a couple years, but I had some black ABS that looked like this and it was extruding too hot that caused this for me. Looking at the bottom of your print on the right side it looks OK near the bed where it is wicking the heat away, but when you get about 4 layers up it starts getting warts and blobs. YMMV.

Is the fillament cooling fan on? It’s offset to one side. that might explain why part of the print doesn’t look too bad.

The only other thing i have seen that produced that effect was a periodic electrical short in the extruder wire harness. As the extruder moved past a certain point on X away from the control box, my extruder motor would lose one of its coils and couldn’t push appropriately. When it moved back towards the control box it would reconnect and work as normal. the resulting pattern looked kind of like what you have there.