<p>It appears that there are several issues with the prints. </p>

<ul>
<li>First layer too far from bed<br>
The picture showing the bottom of the print clearly shows the deposited lines and gaps in between the lines. Please re-level the bed to get the print nozzle closer to the bed (usually a sheet of paper should fit between nozzle and bed without too much friction when pulled). <strong>Edit after new information:</strong> Your initial layer is definitely incorrect, a 0.4 (assuming you have a 0.4 nozzle) is too high, a rule of thumb is to not exceed about 75% of the nozzle diameter, so this should be max 0.3; this is a strong indication that your bed level is indeed to far from the nozzle. Also 1.5 mm line width for the first layer is way too high for correctly leveled bed to nozzle distance; this should be close to 0.4.</li>
<li>Too much flow<br>
Various pictures show zits and blobs that stick out of the print. The best solution is to calibrate your extruder. </li>
<li>Too high temperature possibly/too few cooling flow<br>
The deposited filament is not sharp, it looks like the filament it pretty fluid during the deposition. Please lower the temperature to 195 and or increase the part cooling flow.</li>
<li>Z banding or wobble<br>
The wavy walls show that the printer suffers from X-Y movement (eccentric movement) when the Z lead screws advance. This cannot be fixed easily as this involves the mechanics and the design of the printer. </li>
</ul>

<p>To determine to improve the print quality you first should look at the bed leveling issue, second calibrate the extruder (see if you ask it to spit out 100 mm of filament it actually is 100 mm rather than randomly lowering the extrusion flow parameter) before you print some calibration cubes at reduced temperature and or increased part cooling flow.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-21T03:10:55.100Z
Thanks for your answer, but my printer got something wrong here, so I need to fix it before modifying those settings.
ki.c
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-17T11:27:40.597Z
2018-04-19T17:38:40.953Z
2018-04-19T17:38:40.953Z
0scar
<p>My model looks like this, does anyone know what's going wrong?</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/1qAUd.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Bad print"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/1qAUd.jpg" alt="Bad Print" title="Bad print" /></a></p>
<p>I'm thinking that if the small object looks like that, it's probably because of the slicer? And how about the bottom part of the cube... ummmm... I really don't know</p>
<p>I'm using an M3D printer, its own slicer and PLA at 205°C</p>
<p>Settings:</p>
<ul>
<li>Layer thickness: 0.200 mm</li>
<li>Extrusion width: 0.375 mm</li>
<li>Filament flow: 100% --&gt;98%</li>
<li>Print speed: 30mm/s --&gt;42 mm/s</li>
<li>Retraction amount: 2 mm</li>
<li>Retraction speed: 6 mm/s</li>
<li>Minimal travel before retraction: 1 mm</li>
<li>Retraction z-hop: 0.150 mm</li>
</ul>
<h3>Update:</h3>
<p>The smaller object is using the same file but resized.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/UYMBP.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Side"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/UYMBP.jpg" alt="Side" title="Side" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Kux1J.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Top"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Kux1J.jpg" alt="Top" title="Top" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/dTjoU.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Inside of left object"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/dTjoU.jpg" alt="Inside of the left object" title="Inside of left object" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/omdKQ.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Side of large object"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/omdKQ.jpg" alt="Side of large object" title="Side of large object" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/mAYlS.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="20x20x20 cube"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/mAYlS.jpg" alt="20x20x20 cube" title="20x20x20 cube" /></a></p>
<p>Here's the calibration cube. After I've changed the filament flow to 98%, it seems that the situation became better. But, it might also be the problem of the slicer as the two object isn't the same.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/FT2RK.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Calibration Cube - Flow: 98%"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/FT2RK.jpg" alt="Calibration cube - Flow: 98%" title="Calibration Cube - Flow: 98%" /></a></p>
<h3>Update :</h3>
<p>Here are the settings</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/UYm7u.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/UYm7u.png" alt="setting01" /></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/v3kKo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/v3kKo.png" alt="setting02" /></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/i0FJR.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/i0FJR.png" alt="setting03" /></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/7kt9t.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/7kt9t.png" alt="setting04" /></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/3CJHH.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/3CJHH.png" alt="setting06" /></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/ZYK2K.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ZYK2K.png" alt="setting05" /></a></p>
<h3>STL Files</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://files.fm/f/tnu9yyaj" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://files.fm/f/tnu9yyaj</a></li>
<li><a href="https://files.fm/u/p5f7k6ya" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://files.fm/u/p5f7k6ya</a></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-15T09:42:11.593Z
welcome to 3dPriniting. As we are not magicians, could you please share more about your printer hardware, printing parameters, slicer and filament (type, brand).  that will allow to get proper help related to issue  and not a guess ....
profesor79
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-15T12:40:08.550Z
Welcome! This is a Q and A forum so please don't enter such (vital) information in the comments, please update your question by editing the question. You are encouraged to also mention what you have tried to fix this rather than printing and posting that this is not what you expected. Calibration cubes (20x20x20 mm) are very useful for this purpose. This appears to be an under-extrusion problem but my guess is as good as yours! Hope we can fix it for you when you give a little more information.
0scar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-16T13:44:46.810Z
@ki.c Please update the body of the question to better formulate the problem. Also please use calipers to measure the sizes of all dimensions of the calibration cube and put it in the body of the question, not in the comments. Have you calibrated the extruder (when extruding 100 mm is actually 100 mm extruded?). Also post a link to the STL so we know how it should look like.
0scar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-17T17:33:21.933Z
You need to describe the problem better. It isn't really easy to tell from these photos what you expect, and what you think the problem is.
Sean Houlihane
<print-quality><3d-models><fdm><m3d>
Print quality problem with M3D FDM printer
ki.c
# Print quality problem with M3D FDM printer

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-04-15)

My model looks like this, does anyone know what's going wrong?

[![Bad Print](https://i.sstatic.net/1qAUd.jpg "Bad print")](https://i.sstatic.net/1qAUd.jpg "Bad print")

I'm thinking that if the small object looks like that, it's probably because of the slicer? And how about the bottom part of the cube... ummmm... I really don't know

I'm using an M3D printer, its own slicer and PLA at 205°C

Settings:

* Layer thickness: 0.200 mm
* Extrusion width: 0.375 mm
* Filament flow: 100% -->98%
* Print speed: 30mm/s -->42 mm/s
* Retraction amount: 2 mm
* Retraction speed: 6 mm/s
* Minimal travel before retraction: 1 mm
* Retraction z-hop: 0.150 mm

### Update:

The smaller object is using the same file but resized.

[![Side](https://i.sstatic.net/UYMBP.jpg "Side")](https://i.sstatic.net/UYMBP.jpg "Side")

[![Top](https://i.sstatic.net/Kux1J.jpg "Top")](https://i.sstatic.net/Kux1J.jpg "Top")

[![Inside of the left object](https://i.sstatic.net/dTjoU.jpg "Inside of left object")](https://i.sstatic.net/dTjoU.jpg "Inside of left object")

[![Side of large object](https://i.sstatic.net/omdKQ.jpg "Side of large object")](https://i.sstatic.net/omdKQ.jpg "Side of large object")

[![20x20x20 cube](https://i.sstatic.net/mAYlS.jpg "20x20x20 cube")](https://i.sstatic.net/mAYlS.jpg "20x20x20 cube")

Here's the calibration cube. After I've changed the filament flow to 98%, it seems that the situation became better. But, it might also be the problem of the slicer as the two object isn't the same.

[![Calibration cube - Flow: 98%](https://i.sstatic.net/FT2RK.jpg "Calibration Cube - Flow: 98%")](https://i.sstatic.net/FT2RK.jpg "Calibration Cube - Flow: 98%")

### Update :

Here are the settings

[![setting01](https://i.sstatic.net/UYm7u.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/UYm7u.png)
[![setting02](https://i.sstatic.net/v3kKo.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/v3kKo.png)
[![setting03](https://i.sstatic.net/i0FJR.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/i0FJR.png)
[![setting04](https://i.sstatic.net/7kt9t.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/7kt9t.png)
[![setting06](https://i.sstatic.net/3CJHH.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/3CJHH.png)
[![setting05](https://i.sstatic.net/ZYK2K.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/ZYK2K.png)

### STL Files

* <https://files.fm/f/tnu9yyaj>
* <https://files.fm/u/p5f7k6ya>

**Tags:** print-quality, 3d-models, fdm, m3d
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: welcome to 3dPriniting. As we are not magicians, could you please share more about your printer hardware, printing parameters, slicer and filament (type, brand).  that will allow to get proper help related to issue  and not a guess ....  
> **username_2**: Welcome! This is a Q and A forum so please don't enter such (vital) information in the comments, please update your question by editing the question. You are encouraged to also mention what you have tried to fix this rather than printing and posting that this is not what you expected. Calibration cubes (20x20x20 mm) are very useful for this purpose. This appears to be an under-extrusion problem but my guess is as good as yours! Hope we can fix it for you when you give a little more information.  
> **username_2**: @ki.c Please update the body of the question to better formulate the problem. Also please use calipers to measure the sizes of all dimensions of the calibration cube and put it in the body of the question, not in the comments. Have you calibrated the extruder (when extruding 100 mm is actually 100 mm extruded?). Also post a link to the STL so we know how it should look like.  
> **username_3**: You need to describe the problem better. It isn't really easy to tell from these photos what you expect, and what you think the problem is.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-04-17. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

It appears that there are several issues with the prints.

* First layer too far from bed  
  The picture showing the bottom of the print clearly shows the deposited lines and gaps in between the lines. Please re-level the bed to get the print nozzle closer to the bed (usually a sheet of paper should fit between nozzle and bed without too much friction when pulled). **Edit after new information:** Your initial layer is definitely incorrect, a 0.4 (assuming you have a 0.4 nozzle) is too high, a rule of thumb is to not exceed about 75% of the nozzle diameter, so this should be max 0.3; this is a strong indication that your bed level is indeed to far from the nozzle. Also 1.5 mm line width for the first layer is way too high for correctly leveled bed to nozzle distance; this should be close to 0.4.
* Too much flow  
  Various pictures show zits and blobs that stick out of the print. The best solution is to calibrate your extruder.
* Too high temperature possibly/too few cooling flow  
  The deposited filament is not sharp, it looks like the filament it pretty fluid during the deposition. Please lower the temperature to 195 and or increase the part cooling flow.
* Z banding or wobble  
  The wavy walls show that the printer suffers from X-Y movement (eccentric movement) when the Z lead screws advance. This cannot be fixed easily as this involves the mechanics and the design of the printer.

To determine to improve the print quality you first should look at the bed leveling issue, second calibrate the extruder (see if you ask it to spit out 100 mm of filament it actually is 100 mm rather than randomly lowering the extrusion flow parameter) before you print some calibration cubes at reduced temperature and or increased part cooling flow.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for your answer, but my printer got something wrong here, so I need to fix it before modifying those settings.  

---

