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The ghosting annoyance! Help!!

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 10:18 pm
by L51
So I'm pretty new to 3d printing.. but most or the stuff I print turns out really good! Except for lettering and other images that are inset into prints.. I get ghosting and don't no how to fix it. The bottom turned put good though.

Re: The ghosting annoyance! Help!!

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:45 am
by wermy
What kind of printer do you hvae, and what speed are you printing at? Ghosting is usually a result of printing too fast, or one (or more) of your belts being a little loose. Assuming you printed it with the text facing the front or back of your printer then that would mean the Y axis would be the belt you should check.

Re: The ghosting annoyance! Help!!

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:20 am
by ICMF
Yup. Tighten belts and slow down your speed. You may need to tweak acceleration settings, too.

Re: The ghosting annoyance! Help!!

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:16 pm
by L51
wermy wrote:
Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:45 am
What kind of printer do you hvae, and what speed are you printing at? Ghosting is usually a result of printing too fast, or one (or more) of your belts being a little loose. Assuming you printed it with the text facing the front or back of your printer then that would mean the Y axis would be the belt you should check.
I'm using g an ANET A8. Print speed was at 50mmps I believe on this print. So not to fast. I will however try tightening the extruder belt and see how I go.

Haha is for the reply!

Re: The ghosting annoyance! Help!!

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:18 pm
by L51
ICMF wrote:
Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:20 am
Yup. Tighten belts and slow down your speed. You may need to tweak acceleration settings, too.
What would be a good acceleration to set? Would it have anything to do with jerk settings also? Printer in an anet a8.

Thanks for the reply!

Re: The ghosting annoyance! Help!!

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:42 pm
by ICMF
L51 wrote:
Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:18 pm
What would be a good acceleration to set?
Not to be glib, but, whatever gets rid of the ringing. It's not really an exact science, and everyone's machine will differ.

Ringing occurs because there is elasticity or play in your printer. The print head's inertia causes it to overshoot the corner (slightly), then it bounces back and forth (slightly) until it dissipates, like ripples in water.

There are a bunch of contributing factors:
- if the belt is loose, the rubber's stretchiness will allow the print head to bounce around. Proper tensioning removes most of this stretch, so there's less room for the belt to wiggle. Think of it like a rubber band - loose, it's really springy, but if you pull it taut it becomes... taut. There will still be *some* stretchiness no mater what you do - even a steel cable will stretch somewhat - but you want to minimize it as much as possible.
- if the speed is too high, you'll have too much inertia, making it harder for the print head to stop moving. Think of a high-speed car crash vs. bumping into a car in a parking lot. Reducing the acceleration reduces the speed, which lowers the inertia and reduces any potential wiggle.
- if the jerk is too high, again you'll have problems with inertia with the print head being yanked in a new direction before it's stopped moving along the last axis. By lowering the jerk, you give the print head more time to settle down. On the other hand, if your jerk is too *low*, the details will become soft and indistinct, because it takes too long to change directions.
- you can also have problems with harmonic vibration. If the surface your printer is on is bouncing and shaking, it will have to compensate for that as well as its own mechanics.

So eliminating ringing is mostly a balancing act, and you mostly just have to experiment to see what works best for you. Start by making sure your belts are properly tensioned. It's also worth checking your printer for loose bolts. Then start reducing your print times until you get reasonable results. Then start adjusting your jerk settings to see if you can bump up your print speeds (or, if you're not getting acceptable results at 20mm/s, the problem may be the jerk more than the speed). And if your printer is bouncing around when it's printing, try putting it on a more rigid surface.

I don't have an A8 so I can't give any specific settings, but there are a lot of A8 user groups out there - facebook, reddit, thingiverse, discussion groups - that can probably give you some settings suggestions to get a starting point. Although as a DIY kit that often gets heavily modded, it's *really* going to be down to your specific printer.

Re: The ghosting annoyance! Help!!

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:11 pm
by L51
Haha is a heap for the detailed reply. I'll check out all these factors when I get home tonight and do a couple test prints. With all this information I'm sure I should be able to correct it.

Thanks again!

Re: The ghosting annoyance! Help!!

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:12 am
by moooarcuuuus
In https://www.simplify3d.com/support/prin ... eshooting/ under "vibrations-and-ringing". That is a very good site.

Re: The ghosting annoyance! Help!!

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:51 am
by wermy
+1 for the simplify3d troubleshooting reference - that’s a great resource no matter what printer or slicer you are using.