Ugly layers and Jamming

[jereywolf]

I've noticed on a lot of the prints I've been running lately, the layers are going down pretty ugly even when the first layer goes down perfectly.
I've also been having frequent jams. I'm wondering if they are related.
My extrusion is calibrated right on.
I'm running:
Esun PETG Natural on the V4 PTFE
Hot end 255°
bed 85°
extrusion multiplier .93
65% infill
100% infill width
tension on the idler is light
my fan is blowing right on the filament between the printed guide and where it enters the V4
Any thoughts?

Here is the factory file of the print I have been running most often and a photo of the ugly layers after there was a jam.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hdp4kboydve0h ... ctory?dl=0

[jsc]

Have you had good prints with your settings and that filament before, and it's gotten worse, or have you never had good prints? The recommendations will be different for those two cases.

In case it's the latter, I would recommend trying a 130% infill width at a speed of 3200 mm/min. That's to address two issues: 1) PETG wants to get stringy on the infill and collect on the extruder, a thicker infill width fights that, and 2) PETG requires higher pressures to extrude, and going too fast (especially with an increased infill width) will cause a jam.

[jereywolf]

Now that you mention it, I think that after I lowered the infill width from %140 to %100, is when I noticed layers looking like that.
I'm not even sure why I lowered it. I'll definitely give that increase a shot and if I'm still having jamming issues, I'll lower my speed.

Thanks!

[jimc]

jerey, yes you need the infill to be bumped up. petg doesnt bridge well and s3d doesnt print infill on every layer so without the extra plastic being pushed out the infill tends to get broken and ugly which screws up your top surfaces. with that said, s3d released v3.0 and they revamped the infill so you can now pick an infill like honeycomb that prints on every layer. this will cure the broken infill problem. i just posted a thread on it with a link.

[jereywolf]

Right on! Thanks Jim, I'm going to get it right now!

[Tim]

Interesting. I had my infill width set at 140% too, which worked well for the translucent PETg filaments, but started getting jams with the opaque black PETg. I had to dial that back to 100% to get it to behave. I guess that's just a difference between the opaques and the translucents. I suppose it makes sense that the natural acts more like the translucents do.

[jimc]

interesting....i run the black with the exact same settings as the blue/red/yellow. at 140 though i do know at a .35-.4 nozzle you gotta go slower. 3600mm/min or so. i think my profile is running at 3800, 125% and a .4 nozzle. now when you go to the now version of s3d be sure you pick a infill pattern that prints every layer. not all do. then go back to 100%