Solved Ripples in first 3D Print Layer

I'm posting in hopes that it will help others with the same problem. I had been printing along for a few months and was making beautiful prints. I ran out of filament and bought some more but it was a different brand. I made a few objects with the new material and it was working well so I felt like my calibration was good for this new 3mm filament too.

Then I began to get ripples in the first layers. No matter what I printed it made ripples and I couldn't figure it out. I changed hot end temps, bed temps, speed and nothing helped. I then read about the extrusion percentage setting. Mine was set to 100% and I pulled that back to 98% and it seemed to help but not much. I kept pulling it back and at 94% I got a perfect first layer. If you pull that back too much then the head will be pulling and stretching the filament so I'm sure I need to keep an eye on it. But, it solved my problem. I've posted a photo that has 4 samples. The bottom right photo is of the new setting and the others show the problem. I hope this helps someone experiencing the same issue.

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Thanks for the share, I'm glad you're able to print so neatly now :) Now are you using Slic3r or another program?

In Slic3r, I ended up having to play the with extrusion width quite a bit to before my layers stabilized and wasn't over or under filling.

I use Slic3r about 70% of the time but I also use KISSlicer and Skeinforge. Skeinforge is incredibly configurable but hard to get used to. I use it about 10% of the time and am getting better with it.

I get my most perfect prints from KISSlicer. I use it about 20% of the time. It's amazingly clean but it lacks a few settings. For instance, you can't do multiple skirt lines and you can't connect to the printer. So I have to write to media and carry that to my printer to print. Not a biggie but I do like to control the printer from my computer.

I attached a torture print from the i3 using KISSlicer. I've looked at dozens of photos of prints using this torture test and I think this is the cleanest one I've ever seen. The towers are really good, there is no stringing, the arch is nearly perfect and I added a bridge inside the hollow box of my model. That bridge printed very well. It's a little spagetti-like underneath, but it's still a good bridge.

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Well perhaps your E axis / turn isnt right in your Arduino settings?
That or your dimension of your plastic rod isnt right, (Well most of the time spools are about 2.9-3.1)

What you did solved it, But i guess it would be (better) if your E axis was right or your spool dimension checked.

I did check my E axis and dimensions. The E axis was good and the dimension of the filament measured with a digital caliper is 2.98. I made that adjustment in my settings. It was driving me crazy. Changing the Extrusion rate setting for now has solved it. I'll look at the E axis again if it pops back up.

So I guess what you are trying to say is, that if the E axis is correct, the dimension is correct and the filament is consistent, I should not have to change the Extrusion rate from 100%.

Just to update. I tweaked my E Axis a little bit with testing and I leveled my bed again (it was really close already) and I seem to be getting good first layers if I knock my hotend temp from 230C to 225C. So far, so good. I've left the bed at 110C.

Thanks Rob! I had/have this same issue on larger prints!
I generally ignore the lower layers and it clears itself up! But this will help.

thx ! This seemed to work for me as well

I seem to be having the same problem. My first layer starts to ripple in a rectilinear infill with my extrusion at 150, temperature for PLA at 230, and the layer at .4mm. my fan is off and when the fan is on it still doesnt help. What could I do to help with these ripples on the first layer?

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Originally Posted by 3DMed

I seem to be having the same problem. My first layer starts to ripple in a rectilinear infill with my extrusion at 150, temperature for PLA at 230, and the layer at .4mm. my fan is off and when the fan is on it still doesnt help. What could I do to help with these ripples on the first layer?

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My issues with this come and go. Do you have autoleveling? I haven't determined the exact singular cause but I've found that being perfectly level (autoleveling solves this) in combination with no 'over extrusion' usually cures it for me. Could you be pushing out too much filament? Have you done a very careful extrusion calibration? There are some good guides for that here and on the web.

Everything is leveled finally after 2 days of leveling, So im thinking i might be pushing too much filament out at the same time. So what percentage should i drop the extrusion do you think?

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Originally Posted by 3DMed

Everything is leveled finally after 2 days of leveling, So im thinking i might be pushing too much filament out at the same time. So what percentage should i drop the extrusion do you think?

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I feel your pain. That's what forced me to going 'autolevel'. I'd spend hours leveling and then a week later it would be out again. Arrrggg, so it's a little tedious to set up, but I did the autolevel mod.

Aside from that, what I did was make a big adjustment first so I knew that something had changed. I reduced my extrusion by 15%. It actually caused it to under-extrude and I had visible gaps between rows. Then I added back 5% at a time until it started to ripple again. At that point I started backing it off 2% at a time until it looked good. What you might find is that the first layer may be perfect but upper layers look sparce because of the under-extrusion. I just played and played with little adjustments until everything looked good.

I used a 60mm short box for my tests so I had a good sized 1st layer and then could lay down 5 or 10 layers to check them.