Hello! I have 6 P1S printers, and 3 of them have this rough quality that I cannot figure out. They worked fine for months, but randomly started doing this around Christmas time. Changed hot ends and extruders, cleaned and lubed rods, tried different filament. I included two pictures, one of what “normal” should look like, and another of the issue. I ordered a X1C extruder to try that, but I have no received it yet, and I honestly don’t think the extruder is the issue. Just wanted to see if anyone else has had this issue. Additionally, for my business, I do use almost exclusively matte filament, which I know can be rough, but I do have 3 printers that have printed perfectly for hundreds of hours.
While the difference is apparent have you tried creating a model that is smaller that can isolate the artifact? I only suggest this because your likely going to have to do trial and error to find out the problem.
It’s hard to tell from the photographs but it does look like there is a color shift. It would be helpful to see two samples side by side in the same photo frame so that we can compare colors.
Assuming that there is a color shift. I would chase speed related mechanical issues.
Here are some questions:
- Have you swapped filament between two printers and tested the same filament in the same printer?
- Have you examined the PTFE tube? If these are worn, it could impact speed which is a factor in color shifting.
- Can you produce a smaller model using a elongated cube primitive so that we can compare color shift? Create a cube primitive with at least one length at 80mm to give the filament time to accelerate. The objects should again be photographed in the same frame for a side by side comparison.
- Have you tried printing both a cylinder primitive and a cube primitive on the same plate? Ideally we’d want to see one of the models at twice the height of the other. Again, we are looking for color shift which can confirm a speed issue.
- Have you tried running the print at 50% speed using quiet mode? This too should create a color shift if there is a speed issue.
- Are you performing regular maintenance of the Z axis Lead screw and the X-Axis Carbon rods?
In all of these questions, we are chasing an assumption that we are seeing color shift and that is due to speed. If we can confirm speed as an issue, then this could be an explanation for why some printers(one’s with more print time) are showing more layer lines and drooping.
Alternatively, you can also try increasing the part cooling fan in the filament profile but that won’t help you find the root cause.
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