Poor print quality since upgrading to Cura 3.2

I recently upgraded Cura and have problems with the print quality.

In the first photo The PLA filament is not smooth like it was before. It is bumpy and ragged.

The second photo shows the barrel of Bergerman’s WW 2 Hetzer. The barrel is not smooth and is misaligned.

I tried to include my current profile but it would not allow me to attach it because of an invalid extension.

I would appreciate any suggestions you can provide to improve printing quality.

v/r


When you get the squiggly lines like this on the first layer, it will indicate your Z offset needs to be brought closer to the bed. If you upgraded your Firmware, and did not restore the Z offset this is likely why. You can find tune your Z offset by following these directions: https://ohai.lulzbot.com/project/z-axis-offset-adjustment-LulzBot-Mini/maintenance-repairs/ Or you can reach out to support@lulzbot.com with your serial number and they can provide your factory calibrated offset for that machine.

This is going to be indicative of being too hot. Essentially as you are printing such a small layer, the previous layer does not have time to cool before the next layer is place. A few settings to adjust that may help include:

  • Cooling Fan Speeds - ensure you have high cooling set for small sections of objects like this


  • Minimal Layer Time - This will slow the print head down to try to acheive the minimal layer time


  • Minimum Speed - This is the minimum speed your printer will go while attempting to reach the minimum layer time


  • Park Head - This will park your head to the side of your object to wait for the minimal layer time to be reached

Another trick for small objects like barrel on your tank, is to print multiple of the objects on the same build plate. This will increase layer time as the print head will need to move back and forth between the two objects.

We hope this helps!