<p>I built an i3-style printer (it started a few years ago as an Anet A8 and now I replaced basically everything). I've been printing some stuff that doesn't really need to have a good quality look or dimensional accuracy, but now I decided to print a calibration cube and the results are shown in the figure below.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any tips on improving the quality of this print? The height is exactly 20 mm but the width and length are affected by the uneven layers.</p>
<hr />
<p>About the changes I made to the A8, basically I started with a steel frame but eventually all the electronics and mechanics were replaced to achieve something similar to the 3DSteel V2 from HTA3D.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Yh2d7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Yh2d7.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-13T07:40:46.863Z
Welcome to 3DPrinting.SE! It looks like you are slightly over extruding, and repetitive striations usually indicate a mechanical problem, e.g. lead screws movement translation to print nozzle. For an A8 it doesn't look that bad, what upgraded you did? Please include that in the question by [edit].
0scar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-13T15:09:53.110Z
The last changes I made were to replace the A8 T8x8 lead screws to T8x2 ones, so I believe they are still straight. The one thing left to replace are the elastic couplers connecting the lead screws to the Z motors. I'm thinking about replacing them with the spider couplers - do you think it will solve anything?
Nuno R. Peres
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-14T11:43:43.797Z
Tightening the belt?
FrontENG
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-14T17:51:10.110Z
Check your filamentwith a caliper capable of showing at least two decimal places. If the diameter fluctuates, it can cause over- / under-extrusion which would appear like this. Also check the rigidity of your frame. Try pushing with one finger on different parts of your machine. You should not be able to move, twist, rotate any parts that are not intended to move in that direction. (a bed should move only in Y direction and should not move in X direction and should not rotate along the Z direction).
TurgonTheKingOfGondolin
<print-quality>
Calibration cube quality
Nuno R. Peres
# Calibration cube quality

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-02-12)

I built an i3-style printer (it started a few years ago as an Anet A8 and now I replaced basically everything). I've been printing some stuff that doesn't really need to have a good quality look or dimensional accuracy, but now I decided to print a calibration cube and the results are shown in the figure below.

Does anyone have any tips on improving the quality of this print? The height is exactly 20 mm but the width and length are affected by the uneven layers.

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About the changes I made to the A8, basically I started with a steel frame but eventually all the electronics and mechanics were replaced to achieve something similar to the 3DSteel V2 from HTA3D.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Yh2d7.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/Yh2d7.png)

**Tags:** print-quality

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to 3DPrinting.SE! It looks like you are slightly over extruding, and repetitive striations usually indicate a mechanical problem, e.g. lead screws movement translation to print nozzle. For an A8 it doesn't look that bad, what upgraded you did? Please include that in the question by [edit].  
> **username_0**: The last changes I made were to replace the A8 T8x8 lead screws to T8x2 ones, so I believe they are still straight. The one thing left to replace are the elastic couplers connecting the lead screws to the Z motors. I'm thinking about replacing them with the spider couplers - do you think it will solve anything?  
> **username_2**: Tightening the belt?  
> **username_3**: Check your filamentwith a caliper capable of showing at least two decimal places. If the diameter fluctuates, it can cause over- / under-extrusion which would appear like this. Also check the rigidity of your frame. Try pushing with one finger on different parts of your machine. You should not be able to move, twist, rotate any parts that are not intended to move in that direction. (a bed should move only in Y direction and should not move in X direction and should not rotate along the Z direction).  

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## 0 answers

