Ender 3 print quality not satisfactory.

[Chilly_Willy]

I'm having trouble getting the layers to stick together. I have leveled the bed multiple times. There are strange spirals being created on sides that are supposed to be flat, almost like stepping. I'm not sure what settings, if any, would help fix this problem. I attached pictures of a filament guide that I tried to make. The spaces between the layer has happened on all of my prints so far.
KIMG0600.JPGKIMG0599.JPGKIMG0598.JPGKIMG0602.JPGKIMG0601.JPG

[Roberts_Clif]

What is your Nozzle Size.

[Chilly_Willy]

.4mm I think. It's the original nozzle.

[Roberts_Clif]

When using a .4 nozzle the the rule of thumb is don't go below your nozzle size.
Using an average for finer quality and good adhesion go with 120% or a line width of .48
For the good quality prints the line width would be .48 I use .4 although with a layer height of .2 it is actually about .44

For the Shell thickness it is best to use a multiple of the nozzle size, 1.2 or 3X the nozzle this is a good value.

For retraction I use a distance of 4.5mm at 40mm/sec this seem to work for me.

I print at 9.6mm^3 ps for 1.75mm filament and a .4 nozzle At 200C or 86% on Print Speed have test printed at 125% My 3D Printer makes a lot of noise though and the print quality is not as quite as good.

[curious aardvark]

easiest is to extrude filament in the air and then measure it with your digital calipers.

I tend to get between 0.4 and 0.48 - depending on the machine and material.

takes a few seconds and can make a helluva difference.

Are you using abs ?
and do you have print area cooling on at 100% (honestly it should be either on 100% or off. Anything inbetween is pretty pointless. I generally have coolling off for the first 2 layers and then 100% for the rest of the print.

I mean if anything that looks like over extrusion for the first pic.
(finds picture) bowden.
How easy is it to hand load the filament into the hot end ?

Is it direct drive or bowden ?

[Chilly_Willy]

Im using PLA. The first layers print fine. After about the first 2mm, spaces between the layers develop. The layers are not sticking together very good either. I don't know why the first layers print good but then the rest don't. I also noticed on another print, the first layers printed fine but the middle of the print had the typical spaces between layers. However, the quality of the print is good in random sections towards the top. I will attach an updated print.

[Chilly_Willy]

KIMG0604.JPGKIMG0605.JPG

[curious aardvark]

sounds like your z-axis steps might be wrong.
Mind you the picture above doesn't look like layer issues, more extrusion/retraction settings.
what temp are you printing at. ?

In fact you might as well give us all your settings - we'll be asking for them all at some point anyway :-)

[Chilly_Willy]

Temp is at 210 now. I started out at 190 and increased it 5 degrees at a time, I did not notice any change to the print. I will attach pictures of my settings in Cura. KIMG0606.JPGKIMG0607.JPGKIMG0608.JPG