Very poor upper surface on only one model, others are great

Hello, I’m a relative newbie to this hobby and am near the point of hair pulling. I’ve purchased a stirling engine kit that supplies several items while allowing the printing of most of the frame parts. The upper layers of the flat objects are horrible while those of ALL my other prints are perfect or as expected. Technical support of the company says the problem is with my printer, a Creality Ender 3 S1. I’ve been using the Creality slicer, a subset of the Cura slicer.Does anyone have any ideas how this could happen with only one model? I tried adding photos but was unable to get them below 20K. Oh, I see one of the photos showed up,I’ll try the bad one too.Thanks, Harry

Not sure what the 20K is.

Could you post your model print settings.

I also Print with Cura on occasion and Creality slicer is Cura 15.04.6.
I use Prusaslicer 2.4.0 if is in my opinion the best free slicer an is based on Slic3r.

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Originally Posted by Roberts_Clif

Not sure what the 20K is.Could you post your model print settings..

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The 20K is the upper limit for photo size that can be uploaded.The print settings that I used for the stirling motor part are:.4mm nozzle.02 layer height7 bottom layers 6 top layersIs that the information you were looking for?Harry

Partially

Was looking for filament temp, print speed, filament type, ect
Wanted to get a ideal of basic settings.

It almost seem impossible to print a perfect flat layer then print a cylinder with a rough inside bottom layer.

Is it possible to see the File to look at for only that model.

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Originally Posted by Roberts_Clif

Partially Was looking for filament temp, print speed, filament type, ectWanted to get a ideal of basic settings.It almost seem impossible to print a perfect flat layer then print a cylinder with a rough inside bottom layer.Is it possible to see the File to look at for only that model.

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I agree that it just doesn’t make sense but it has now happened twice. Both attempts with the stirling engine gave those poor results while everything else is good. Those values I gave above were the only settings that I addressed in the model that would have differed from the printer default settings. I’m printing a fairly large job now but will try to recreate the settings and print the model a third time. If I get the same results I’d be more than happy to share the file to see if something can be figured out.Harry

Well, the adventure continues! I tried recreating my settings for the stirling engine, this time the top. At first the quality of the first layer was impossibly bad and it wasn’t until I reduced the speed to roughly 1/2 of the set speed (25mm/sec) that got an acceptable start. This third try was the best so far but far short of the quality of everything else I’ve printed. I’ll try attach a picture and the first few pages of my file.HarryP.s. I added the picture but wasn’t able to add the file since it exceeded file sizes allowed.

Download Prusaslicer 2.4 slicer an install.

After you install Prusaslicer click on configuration > configuration wizard > Other Vendors
Check Creality check box
Under Other vendors a new label "Creality FFF" will appear click on and select your Ender 3 printer an install the defaults

Do the same for filaments you use.

You will see a world of differences. When you have time learn about the modifiers an all the other fantastic features of the slicer

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Originally Posted by Roberts_Clif

Download Prusaslicer 2.4 slicer an install.

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Thanks for the suggestion and I will follow your advise at a later time. Right now I have too much to learn and all my other prints are fine, only this one is giving me a bit of grief. I’ll likely be able to use what I’ve printed to build the stirling engine and then move on from there.I’ve downloaded Ultimaker Cura now and will start using it. Harry

I have always been fascinated with Stirling engines have look at them quite often, none however are cost effective.

where did you get the stirling engine model from ?
it's quite likely the model could be at fault.

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Originally Posted by Roberts_Clif

I have always been fascinated with Stirling engines have look at them quite often, none however are cost effective.

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They’re fun; I built one with my machining equipment but wanted a LTD model. I was never able to find a large clear cylinder so when I saw the one at Kontax, I couldn’t resist.

I got the kit from a company called Kontax Stirling Engines. It’s unlikely to be the model; they specialize in stirling engines and I’m a rookie. But thanks for the supportive comment :).Harry

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Originally Posted by Free2fish

They’re fun; I built one with my machining equipment but wanted a LTD model. I was never able to find a large clear cylinder so when I saw the one at Kontax, I couldn’t resist.

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I went to site an found a 3D Printed Stirling Engine kit. now one like this I could afford.

Is this the one, if so what part are you having problems 3D Printing.

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Originally Posted by Roberts_Clif

I went to site an found a 3D Printed Stirling Engine kit. now one like this I could afford.Is this the one, if so what part are you having problems 3D Printing.

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I think I figured out my problem. My Z-axis adjustment was changing between sessions and I periodically reset it. Seems it might have been weird timing that caused some prints to work well and the stirling engine to fail. Now I just run auto level and adjust my x-axis before each print and all is good. This is not what is supposed to happen but at last it’s a temporary fix.Harry