Cr-6 se "Pillowing" problem?

[Avisserate]

Hello, all! Noob to the forum here.

My printer is a cr-6 Se with an upgraded MicroSwiss hot end, and the Community Firmware. I upgraded both about a month ago, and all has been fine, until the "pillowing" started roughly two weeks ago. I'm not entirely sure it's considered pillowing, but I don't know what the issue is.

It doesn't matter what filament I use. It has happened in PLA, Silk PLA and PETG. Amongst other things, I have PID tuned, checked all belts-not too tight, not too loose, moved the z-steps up and down, leveled countless times, I have changed the infill to 100%, changed the amount of top layers from 4 to 8, changed the temperature up and down, lubed the z-rods, tightened the z-rod brass nuts and loosened them, checked the level of both z-rods, and tightened basically every structural screw on the machine. All to no avail.

I first noticed this when I left a small print alone and came back to this layer shift-

I started the print again, and watched it through. When it got to the layer where it shifted, I heard a grinding noise and realized the nozzle was dragging on the font which caused the belt to skip.

My initial understanding was that it was a cooling issue. So, I upgraded both the hot end fan, and the cooling fan to WinSinn 4010's with this duct -
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4777287 and a fan shroud for the hot end fan.

That didn't resolve the issue, so I upgraded the part cooling fan to a WinSinn 5015 with this duct - https://www.printables.com/model/157511 ... -dual-fang

Neither of those fan upgrades resolved it, so I thought I could at least resolve the layer shifting by turning on Z-Hop, and I got the print to actually finish without the layer shift. But the top layer still looks like butt.

PETG (Although, pre-dehydrating. Currently in the dehydrator.)

I'm at my wits end and have exhausted my (little) knowledge of what could be wrong.
So, if there's anyone out there who can suggest something, I am as appreciative as I am attentive.

[LePaul]

I think what's causing your nozzle drag and layer shifting is over extruding material.

What looks to be happened is youre over extruding too much material and I suspect either a nozzle blob forms or the nozzle plows into the previous layer, causing that rubbing/bump which in turn, leads to lost steps (layer shift)

First, I would suggest dialing in your Extruder Esteps (https://mattshub.com/blogs/blog/extruder-calibration)

Second, once you have that done, you should follow the calibration guide on Teaching Tech's Wiki, especially the Slicer Flow Settings.
https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html#flow

Be sure to look through the various tabs and videos he has linked.

Let me know how it goes, we're here to help!

[Avisserate]

I appreciate the suggestions! I did initially adjust the e-steps, but it won't hurt to check again. I will post my findings after work and checking out those videos.

Thanks again!

I think what's causing your nozzle drag and layer shifting is over extruding material.

What looks to be happened is youre over extruding too much material and I suspect either a nozzle blob forms or the nozzle plows into the previous layer, causing that rubbing/bump which in turn, leads to lost steps (layer shift)

First, I would suggest dialing in your Extruder Esteps (https://mattshub.com/blogs/blog/extruder-calibration)

Second, once you have that done, you should follow the calibration guide on Teaching Tech's Wiki, especially the Slicer Flow Settings.
https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html#flow

Be sure to look through the various tabs and videos he has linked.

Let me know how it goes, we're here to help!

[LePaul]

Ok, let us know!

I do flow testing on every material I print. I've found even the same brand material with a different coloring can flow differently.

[Avisserate]

Okay, so after running 100mm of filament on the e-steps test, it was initially off by +4mm, meaning 104mm was actually extruded. This was all checked so far on just one filament spool.

Once I adjusted for the +4mm, I ran the test again and I was off by -10mm (90mm actual extrusion).
So, I adjusted and ran the test again and I was off by +10. I adjusted, ran again, and this time off by -2mm.
I adjusted for that and ran again, and it was dead on.

I have a WinSinn dual gear extruder, and I don't hear or see any skipping. But for some reason, the amount of filament extruded isn't consistent.

I am doing the same print in the above pictures again to see how it turns out now after that last e-step adjustment just to see what happens.

Could this possibly be the stepper motor going bad?

I'll come back tomorrow with how the print turned out, I'm headed out for festivities. Happy New Year everyone!

[Avisserate]

Okay, next day. The print last night turned out exactly the same as the above pictures.
This morning, I tried turning the top layer flow rate down to 80% in Cura and it's only marginally better.

[LePaul]

Something is up, for sure. It's weird that the extruder is so off and on over multiple tests. The only thing I can think is that the tension isn't right?

[Avisserate]

Just to update: I have ordered a replacement stepper motor and I already have an extra dual gear extruder I can stick on too, just for certainty.
I also ordered a replacement set of brass nuts for the Z rods. I opted for a set of the anti-backlash nuts just so I could check them out, since I am replacing them anyway.

I will report back once everything is here and installed. Shouldn't be more than a day or two.

[Avisserate]

Last night, I put on the new extruder motor, dual gear extruder, and replaced the brass lead screw nuts.
A note for anyone trying - Getting these nyloc nuts back on is suuuuper fun. :sarcasm:

I ran the e-steps 4 times after initially setting it to the new motor/extruder, and it was spot on every time. So, I think that's resolved now.

I did notice that the right Z lead screw's threads were marred on both ends - I don't know how they're made, but I assume whatever was cutting them into sections was dull and messed both ends up. They were so bad that in order to get the original brass nut on, Creality must've really cranked it on there, ruining the threads of the nut from the get-go. None of the other nuts, including the left side's original one would go on there without a lot of force, well beyond my hand strength. I ordered a replacement lead screw and put it on.

This is one of the early Kickstarter models. You'd think they'd have put a little more QC into it. I digress..

I leveled the X axis, ran the auto-bed level, and ran the print again.
I watched the nozzle drag across the top layers again, only, nowhere near as bad as before.

Original for reference -

After upgrades/fixes -

The final print actually turned out a lot better than the last several, but it still shouldn't be dragging. So, now I think I've truly exhausted everything I know to do.


::edit::

I am going back through the Teaching Tech calibration again.

[LePaul]

Nozzle dragging can be super annoying, I have one machine that tends to do that. One think you could try is adding Z Hop