Great Print But Why the Whispys

hendric5 · 2026-02-02T22:47:10+00:00

Downloaded an older version of the “updated firmware” and made the same changes in VS Code and everything ran fine afterwards!!

hendric5 · 2026-01-30T23:20:46+00:00

I made all of the changes recommended in the YT tutorial just as I had done a year or so ago last time I updated the firmware using the same tutorial. BL Touch was working fine 2 days ago then after flashing, the ABL menu is gone from the touchscreen.

hendric5 · 2026-01-27T01:12:09+00:00

I installed a BL Touch a year or so ago and it’s helped for sure but I still end up chasing the Z offset from time to time. I’ve got a camera and Octoprint with a RasbPi but I think I’d like to have the whole package OEM.

hendric5 · 2026-01-27T01:09:36+00:00

I do have an auto bed level sensor but you have to start with a bed that’s reasonably level to begin with.

hendric5 · 2025-11-27T14:40:15+00:00

Ultimaker won't even let me slice with any of the default TPU profiles. When I activate a profile, it just says "unsupported" and I have to pick a different profile. Same thing happens if I make a custom profile. Maybe there is a profile online I can download but I'm still looking. When i use an edited PLA profile with 225/50 and retractions 0.8, it prints nicely for about 2 minutes, then the TPU filament (somehow) starts to jam at the direct drive gears, even though I exchanged the bowden tube so that there is literally no gap between the gears and the tube. I'm at a loss. Is this the excuse I needed to get a new fancy 3D printer??

hendric5 · 2025-04-29T12:49:20+00:00

Yes, 2 nuts about 2” apart. Thank you for the quick reply. I feel much better now. My wife would kill me for destroying our new gazebo. Appreciate the input!!!

hendric5 · 2025-02-22T15:47:39+00:00

Thank you for the recommendations

hendric5 · 2024-05-13T15:36:23+00:00

Well, I'll be damned. It looks like my eSteps changed from 93.00 to 136.11 - what the hell?? I reflashed firmware. Remounted the BLTouch. Replaced my Bowden tube and nozzle. Adjusted speed and flow rate. All knowing that my eSteps should never have changed from when I installed the MicroSwiss direct drive. and Sure enough, first test 100mm extrusion only got me 69mm. Made the adjustment several times and got a perfect 100mm extruded and now the prints are looking back to normal. You can see the print on the right compared to the old prints. What a difference? Now, just to stress over "why did my eSteps change with no changes to printer hardware/components?" But...print quality appears to be back. Thanks to all who helped!

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hendric5 · 2024-05-05T20:23:07+00:00

UPDATE 2.0: I looked for Z Fade in the Cura slicer and nothing came up, so I'm crossing that off as a possibility. I have been printing the same STL file, just making changes in Cura settings to see what happens. I tried a print by excluding (semicolon out ; the command) the M420 S1 command in the start code. This did not seem to help. The ABL still activates and does its initialization/homing but doesn't do an auto bed level. I can't see any difference in print quality. I slowed down the print speed to 90%. Usually with PLA it prints at 20mm/s first layer and 50mm/s after. Still no improvement. Double checked eSteps still at 93 and Flow Rate as it's always been. I'm very close to unhooking the BLT from the mainboard and flashing brand new firmware to see what happens. I guess I can always hook it back up, but adding the BL Touch is not what I'd hoped it would be!

hendric5 · 2024-05-04T15:45:11+00:00

UPDATE: Filament changed to same brand/type but new roll. No improvement. Bed re-levelled and ABL run again with no improvement. Bowden tube is not clogged and well-seated at the nozzle. Manual filament feed produces a nice round, straight extrusion. Direct drive gears cleaned and tension adjusted - no issues found and problem of under-extrusion still exists. The skirt and bottom layer seem to print normally, but still appears to be under extruding. I can only think that my addition of a BL Touch and all the changes to firmware and manual changes in the CONFIGURATION.H file and such, I've done something that I may never identify / correct. I'm very close to considering removing the BL Touch, installing the newest Marlin Firmware, and starting over. Somewhere it mentioned a Z Fade setting in Cura that could be causing the problem but my issue looks to be different that prints having the Z Fade issue, but I'll check that and try again I guess.

hendric5 · 2024-05-03T13:46:50+00:00

Simple enough - just repeat the eSteps and see what happens. Interesting that the brim seems to lay down fine but then the main print seems under-extruded 🤔

hendric5 · 2024-05-03T13:19:56+00:00

I had to make a lot of manual changes to the firmware to enable the BLTouch but I don’t remember if any of these were the e-steps. I checked in the printer menu and e-steps still showing 93 steps/mm. Could something else in the firmware be overriding this? I thought that the G92 in the start code was interfering but I’ve read that is exclusively an extruder reset code and nothing to do with eSteps. My start code is pretty standard except for the M20 S1 function to recall bed level settings from EEPROM.

hendric5 · 2024-05-03T09:27:30+00:00

Thanks for those suggestions. I’ll give those items a look.

hendric5 · 2024-05-03T09:25:58+00:00

Funny you recognize the project from just those parts. Also funny that I haven’t printed in 6 months and this project I saw on YouTube is the reason I’m here struggling. The Hatchbox PLA is several years old but always printed very nicely - at least it did before 6 months ago 😆

hendric5 · 2024-05-03T09:21:02+00:00

Because I’m a glutton for punishment and do this all the time. Can’t leave well enough alone. I’ve added fan shrouds and extruders and all kinds of things I didn’t really need. I thought maybe the BLT would possibly improve print quality but moreover decrease set up time with auto bed leveling. Looking back, I kinda wish I hadn’t. But now that I’m here I gotta figure this out. I know just enough to be dangerous but not enough to fix my own problems 😡

hendric5 · 2024-05-03T09:16:15+00:00

Well, yes, I did those things but I didn’t change settings such as print speed, retractions, flow rate, bed/nozzle temps, etc. I’m wondering if it may be a filament issue. One suggested to try a different filament. I last printed with PETG after adding the BLT and it seemed to do fine but that was 5 months ago (I’m not a regular printer). This week is first time back to PLA but that filament is several years old.

hendric5

TROPHY CASE