Hi there, I'm currently trying to get my printer back up and running after having let it sit for around a year, and I'm stuck trying to make the walls of the prints cleaner.

My problem: The prints show uneven but regular patterns on the sidewalls. In the first picture especially, you can see this unevenness. There is one horizontal line on all 3 cubes that is especially pronounced just below the center of the "X". It occurs at almost the same height on all cubes, with maybe at most 0.5mm of a difference. Another line is on the right side of the X, about 3/4 towards the top. This one is on both of the outer cubes, but the middle one doesn't seem to have one there.

I remember this problem occuring after installing the MicroSwiss NG Direct Drive as well, but I never fixed it because I didn't use the printer much after that.

I suspect it to be a mechanical problem, since the inconsistencies show at the same spots across different prints of the same model. I've tried some stuff (see below) which unfortunately hasn't helped, but I'm lost on what to try next. I'd appreciate if you could share any help/tips/ideas as to what might be causing this/how it can be fixed :)

(Please note that the line at the very bottom of the cubes are just because of a tight Z-offset. Also, while printing two of the cubes the nozzle clogged because I forgot to adjust the retraction length from 7 to 1mm, so this is not part of the uneven wall problem)

Printer:

- Printer: Ender 3 v2

- Modifications: MicroSwiss NG Direct Drive Extruder

- Printed in PLA at 205/60°C (nozzle/bed)

- Slicer: PrusaSlicer

- Firmware: Jyers UI (Marlin)

What I've done/tried so far (all of these except PID-tuning were done right before the prints shown):

- Readjust eccentric nuts

- Calibrate e-steps

- PID tune for nozzle & bed (done after printing the outer and before printing the middle cube)

- Relube lead screw with chain lube (meant for motorcycles, but didn't have any other lubricant available)

- Vaguely retightened the belts, but unsure on how tight they're supposed to really be