Trying to increasing print surface quality (E3D on Flashforge?)

[Mjolinor]

Bit of arithmetic:

If you have a 13 mm toothed gear then one step is 0.2 mm of filament.
At 1.75 mm diameter that is 0.4912 mm^3 of filament.
With a 0.3 mm nozzle that equates to an extruded length of 1.74 mm per step.

If you are using half micro-stepping then each half step should be 0.869 mm of filament but due to inaccuracies in the half step one will be more than the other.

If your "oscillations" are 1.74 or so period then that is probably the problem.

Attached a picture of something on my printer that seems to show the same thing. The oscillations are just under 2 mm apart so that seems to fit.

[Dargonfly]

I've added a file to show you exactly what I get on my prints (this is 0.15[mm] layer height) though, much worse on 0.1[mm]!)

My guess here would be that you are using micro-stepping for the extrusion stepper and the stepper motor is a cheap one.

Micro-stepping is fine in theory but in practise it is never accurate due to build and component quality inside the stepper.

The fix is to use a geared stepper and/or to use a top quality stepper motor though the problem is still there no matter how much you pay for a stepper motor, it is just not as bad.

Ok! that sounds like a very plausible cause too!
But.. I don't know if I'm using micro-stepping, and I do not know whether my stepper is cheap or not (willing to buy new ones though!)

Do you perhaps know what I need to look for in a stepper motor (for Flashforge Creator)?
And do you think this is for feeding or for X & Y too?

Bit of arithmetic:

If you have a 13 mm toothed gear then one step is 0.2 mm of filament.
At 1.75 mm diameter that is 0.4912 mm^3 of filament.
With a 0.3 mm nozzle that equates to an extruded length of 1.74 mm per step.

If you are using half micro-stepping then each half step should be 0.869 mm of filament but due to inaccuracies in the half step one will be more than the other.

If your "oscillations" are 1.74 or so period then that is probably the problem.

Attached a picture of something on my printer that seems to show the same thing. The oscillations are just under 2 mm apart so that seems to fit.

I got lost in your math... completely.

But I will measure my oscillations (which look quite similar to yours!) as soon as I get home. The only difference being that I use a 0.4[mm] nozzle.

But in conclusion: I need to scratch all my thoughts and focus on the stepper motors that feed the material? Better motors = more consistent feeding, or can I change the firmware somehow regarding this?


Thanks for the help btw, really appreciate it!

And yes, larger layer height means more extrusion so the variations between steps are much less noticeable. (at least, that is my observation from all this)