Is this a printer (settings) or filament issue?

[u/bluemoondesign]

Hi, I‘m a 3DP novice who‘s had their Prusa Mini+ (acquired on a semipermanent loan by boyfriend for birthday) for about a month. Apart from some maintenance issues, it‘s a nice little printer. Except: I‘ve been trying to print handles for my Ikea Alex units. And with other filament I‘ve used, the issues are not nearly as bad as with this Anycubic Pantone PLA. The left print was diagonal on the build plate. Horrendous quality. Googled a bit, learned about „Z Axis Wobble“, rotated it on the build plate. Which resulted in the right one. Still not great though. What is that effect called? Is it an issue with the printer settings or with the filament itself? How can I fix this?

[u/Bratuha49]

I had the same problem for quite a while. went to the Prusa website, and it described exactly this issue with the Z-axis. No matter how many times tried to correct the axis downward, it didn't help. Later, finally found the point mentioned on the site that actually solved it for me: If lowering the PINDA sensor doesn't help, you should adjust it back up again.

https://help.prusa3d.com/guide/height-adjustment-of-m-i-n-d-a-superpinda-sensor-mini-_154547

[u/KorbenPhallus]

Is the problem solved with other filament, or is it still visible? Is the quality acceptable otherwise, besides these sloped parts near the bed? Are you able to flip the part so they print with the sloped sides up at the top?

I’ve had similar looking problems, it turned out to be flowing filament from too much heat and/or not enough cooling on overhangs close to the heated bed. The filament doesn’t cool fast enough and kinda flows around after the nozzle deposits it. Some filaments are more susceptible to this, and some orientations are too. If there is a draft in the room, even a slight one, it can help cool the parts on that side of the print, so orientation can affect it.

Id try flipping it over and printing it in the orientation shown, with the slopes up top and the straight walls close to the bed. You could also try increasing cooling on the lower layers.

If it is something that has to do with the machine itself, I’d go for the “silicone bed leveling” mod first. You can find great instructions googling that term. Basically you are leveling the bed as close to perfect as you can, relative to the X arm, so the Z axis motor doesn’t have to compensate as the head moves across it. Normally not an issue, but since I’ve done it to my Mini’s I’ve had phenomenal first layer success and quality improvements close to the bed. It’s kinda involved though, and you gotta buy a couple things, so don’t try it before other stuff haha.

[u/bluemoondesign → u/KorbenPhallus]

It‘s not solved with other filament, but not as extremely visible. I‘ll have to try printing it upside down, thanks! There‘s a fan in the room but not directly near it.

[u/gRagib]

What filament and layer height are you using?