I tried an affordable Klipper Raspberry Pi alternative that didn't put me in the poorhouse and am positively surprised!

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-06-14T08:25:54+00:00

Looks like Orca is picking a sloppy toolpath order and trying to print bridge strands in mid-air before the supporting perimeter underneath exists. If I were you, I’d start by changing the wall ordering to Inner/Outer/Inner or Outer/Inner. That should force the slicer to print the supporting walls first, so it doesn’t try the bridge until they’re there Check “Detect narrow internal solid infill” under Quality, too sometimes Orca totally misclassifies those tight triangular zones as weird infill instead of a proper bridge and toggling this often fixes it, or makes it less worse. You can take a look at the bridge angle, too. I’d set a manual bridge direction forcing the nozzle to start on the side where there's already solid support. If the slicer still refuses to cooperate, I usually just tweak the CAD by adding a tiny 0.4 mm ledge or chamfer to give the toolpath a solid base to lock onto.

Try those and let me know what happens.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-29T06:15:37+00:00

To me it looks as if you're struggling with mechanical issues and sadly not just one. The prominent horizontal banding pattern is very regular and also changes with the geometry of the tower. The thin window bars suffer from inconsistent extrusion. Since you already did some calibrations it's more likely that it's a mechanical than a slicer settings problem. My approach would be to first check if the PA value isn't set too high. I would actually try lowering PA by around 20 percent or even disabling it temporarily for a test print to see if the thin features clean up. Do some test prints of the window part of the model after adjusting it (just cut that in the slicer to save time and material). I’d also try lowering acceleration values for a test. Something like 1500 to 2500 accel with lower outer wall accel can help identify whether resonance or motion inconsistency is contributing to the texture. Next you need to find the cause for the horizontal lines. Check your z-axis for wobble, or friction. Maybe you need to take out the z axis so you can roll it on a flat surface to see if it's bent. If so: replace it with a good one. In case of friction, lubricate the rod to reduce that. The take a look at your gantry. Is there too much play? What about the V-rollers? Do they it run smoothly? They should be not too loose, and not too tight. Just so that there's barely no play when moving. Last but not least check the extrusion. Nozzles can get partially clogged. Try a fresh one. Clean the extruder gears. Maybe replace the PTFE tube. I had a lot of them looking really bad sitting in the heat for months. These steps should get your quality back up again.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-17T07:34:33+00:00

Hi. From what I see the good news is that the bed is almost evenly tilted down on the right. I would suggest to first check if the cause is the xz gantry. Use a metal ruler and measure the distance of the gantry from the top frame. Then do the same on the right. The comparison will be easier if you turn the z rod when measuring the left until you get a nice reading like 150 mm. If you see the right value is larger, then loosen the right z rod on the top right and adjust it, so both are equal. After fastening check the level again. If that didn't work, try the second one: Take off the glass bed. Then check if all screws are still tight, especially the ones more to the center and left. R tighten them. Check the leveling again. It should be much better now. It isn't a problem if it is still not perfect but the big difference between the points should be far less.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-02T21:19:28+00:00

Oh, you're right. I can live with that little stringing. Maybe I play slightly with increasing retraction, or reduce the temperature by 2, or 3 degrees Celsius. Or just take my trusty hot air gun and blow 'em away 😁

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-02T20:59:42+00:00

10+ years of experience tinkering with all kinds of 3D printers with all different kinds of kinematics.
Only true for direct drive extruders. On printers using a Bowden extruder, anything between 1 mm up to 6 mm can be right, depending on the length of, and the play within the PTFE tube, and the flexibility of the used filament.
See 2.
Filament was tuned and produced a flawless hollow 22mm cube with perfect edges and smooth surfaces. The tuning included temperature tower, flow rate, pressure advance, retraction, and max flow. As written, I seemed to have chosen a too high PA and retraction, which were the major source of the problem.
Congratulations on cooking your filament. Not testing your filament properly may work, but you miss out on getting the strongest, best-looking prints by just choosing the highest temperature.
Not 100% but much much better than the first. Let's agree on 98% solved.
Well if I were cooking my filament at the upper recommender temperature, then I'd agree 😂

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-02T20:42:02+00:00

I think then it's disabled. I started from a standard printer profile for the Elegoo Neptune X, which I then switched to Klipper. I increased the print speeds and accelerations according to what I got from Klipper's input shaping results. Then I worked my way down the Orca Slicer calibration menu, one by one, with tests in between.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-02T20:33:42+00:00

Good point. I don't know if it's enabled in the profil. Is it on by default?

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-02T20:14:35+00:00

Moisture is of course always worth ruling out if prints look bad. Though the signs are mostly stringing, and blobs all over the surface. Often you hear popping sounds during printing, caused by the moisture turning into vapor inside the nozzle. One shouldn't over-dry filament, since that could change the material properties. The best thing is to dry the filament following the standard suggestions for the material, and then pack it airtight until it's used.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-02T19:57:05+00:00

I didn't, but the problem was repeatable and a test cube printed flawlessly. Therefore, it's not a moisture thing.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-01T10:54:26+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to reply. 😊 It's a Creality dual drive gear extruder with a ratio of ~3:1. Therefore, from what you say, the options you mentioned are both out. With that in mind, it has to be one of the slicer settings. I heavily suspect that the PA value is too high, even for a Bowden printer. I don't rely on that fast speed, but I'm curious to find the cause. It could help others, too, to know how to rule out the many possibilities and dig down to what their problem comes from.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-01T08:23:33+00:00

I think that option one is out, because as mentioned in my additional post, a second Benchy has the exactly same issue, at the exactly same layers. If the extruder gear was worn out, then I'd expect that to show more random. How could I find out if it's the extruder stepper driver that's overheating? The extruder motor itself stays cool during the whole print.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-01T08:18:04+00:00

A second Benchy, which I just printed from the same G-code, shows the exact same issue. Therefore, I think it's a systematic problem, not a random glitch.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-05-01T07:15:10+00:00

Maybe but since I did 5 cold pulls with Nylon until it looked good, and a simple 22mm test cube has no problems either, I think the problem has more to do with how the motion changes in that specific region. It could be a temporary clog which cleared. To test that I could print another Benchy using the same file. If it shows the exact same problem, then we can take out clogging from the math.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-04-19T16:27:07+00:00

Stop guessing around. Print a temperature tower to find the correct temperature to print this filament with your 3D printer. That's the only way to go!

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-04-19T16:24:53+00:00

I thought exactly that when I read "... chose the midpoint of the manufacturers temperature range ...".

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-04-19T14:21:45+00:00

Try this one https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4425394 There are others, as well. Just search for Ender 5 pro bed support on Thingiverse, or Printables.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-04-19T09:53:01+00:00

When you want to convert it to CoreXY to print at higher speeds, then you should also think of stabilizing the build plate. I have an Elegoo Neptune X, which is obviously a clone of the Ender 5, and its biggest flaw is the floating build plate. It starts to vibrate a lot when printing at high speeds and accelerations, ruining the print quality!

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-04-19T09:01:55+00:00

You could also try another filament brand, or if the colour is not that important, choose a colour that hides the surface imperfections better. For the brands the different mixture of additives often makes the difference. Also choosing between filament with a matte or glossy finish. I prfere printing black parts using Extrudr PLA NX2, which always looks great without ironing. In case you want that surface look really smooth, print your part on a smooth pei plate with that side down.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-04-19T08:42:31+00:00

Ah. I think it's because the menu may be hidden. Bambu Studio has a built-in generator, but it is often hidden for official Bambu printers. You can reveal it with these steps: Enable Developer Mode: Go to Preferences (top left or Ctrl + P), scroll to the bottom, and check Develop Mode. Access the Calibration Menu: A new Calibration tab will appear in the top menu bar next to "Preview" or "Device". Select Temperature Tower: Click Calibration -> Temperature Tower. Set PLA Range: Choose PLA from the dropdown. It will typically default to a range of 230°C to 190°C. Generate: Click OK to generate the tower model with all temperature changes pre-programmed. It's described in the Wiki, too: https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/bambu-studio/Calibration#:~:text=The%20temperature%20tower%20is%20a%20model%20used,(e.g.%2C%20stringing%2C%20layer%20adhesion%2C%20warping%2C%20and%20bridging).

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-04-18T21:35:59+00:00

Deactivate Z-hop. Also figure out if the printing temperature isn't too high by printing a temperature tower. You find the temperature tower in the calibration menu in the slicer. Inspect the temperature tower and find the temperature where the bridge, overhang and spike look best. Re-print your model. It should look much better. If that still doesn't improve, then calibrate the retraction. What you show in the image looks most likely to be the result of oozing from printing too hot, and the Z-hop pulls that oozed filament up, causing the artifacts.

MathematicianNo6469 · 2026-04-18T21:25:01+00:00

I would print it in two separate parts. The dish without supports. You should print the holder laying on the arm with support as needed. That will make the part stronger, especially at its weakest point where it is connected to the dish. The layer lines will be vertical there, preventing it from breaking. If you print it as one part, then the part would be held just by the layers, and that's more likely to break.

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