3D print ringing

3D Printing – Ghosting/Ringing/Echoing/Rippling – How To Solve – 3D Printerly

Ghosting is a problem that you’ve probably experienced if you own a 3D printer. This problem fortunately has some fairly easy solutions which I’ve described in details for all you out there, so keep reading and let’s get this issue fixed!

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Ghosting, also known as ringing, echoing and rippling, is the presence of surface defects in prints due to vibrations in your 3D printer, induced from rapid changes of speed and direction. Ghosting is something that causes the surface of your model to display echoes/duplicates of previous features.

You are likely to be seeing a repetition of lines or features across the exterior of a printed object, especially when light is reflecting off your print at a certain angle.

3D printing has many industry-specific terms. Ghosting is also known as ringing, echoing, rippling, shadow and waves.

Ghosting sometimes can only affect certain parts of your prints. So some areas of your prints look perfect, while others look bad. It’s especially prominent in prints that have wording engraved, or a logo embossed into it.

The causes of ghosting are pretty well known so I’ll explain it as simply as I can.

Ghosting is caused by something called resonance (vibrations). When 3D printing, your machine moves large objects at a fairly high speed.

The main causes of ghosting are:

• Over the top printing speeds
• High acceleration and jerk settings
• Momentum from heavy components
• Insufficient frame rigidity
• Rapid and sharp angle changes
• Precise details such as wording or logos
• Resonant frequencies from quick movements

Your extruder, metal parts, fans and all sorts can get heavy, and coupled with the fast movements result in something called moments of inertia.

Different combinations of movements, speeds and directional change, with the weight of your printer’s components can result in ‘loose movements’.

When there are quick directional changes with your 3D printer, these movements can cause bends and flexes in the frame. If intense enough, the vibrations are likely to leave you with imperfections on your prints, ghosting.

These type of imperfections are sometimes referred to as ‘artifacts’.

As we know, 3D printers have to be precise in the way they build up an object layer by layer, so this resonance caused by quick movements can have the effect of creating inaccuracies in your prints.

The occurrence of ghosting will be more prominent with 3D printers that have a cantilever design such as the one in the video below:

These are less rigid and so are more prone to vibration from the moments of inertia. When you use a 3D printer which has good rigidity, it can deaden the vibrations effectively.

Test for Ghosting

Download this Ghosting Test from Thingiverse to find out whether you are experiencing ghosting.

• Test both PLA and ABS at varied temperatures
• The hotter the extrusion, the more liquid it will be so the vibration blemishes will be more prominent
• Mind the X and Y orientation when slicing – you should have the labels correspond to the actual X and Y axes.

Easy Solutions to Solve Ghosting Problems

Reduce Your Printing Speed

This is usually the easiest and safest option to try because the only real consequence here are slower prints.

Less speed simply means a lower moment of inertia. Think of a high-speed car crash vs bumping into a car in a parking lot.

As previously mentioned, when your prints have sudden angles they have an increased likelihood to cause vibrations because the sudden movements that the printer will have to execute. When you have sharp angles mixed with a high print speed, it results in your print head having trouble slowing down.

Sudden printer movements can generate intense vibrations and 3D printer ringing. The faster you print, the more sudden are direction and speed changes, translating to more severe ringing.

A problem can arise with reducing printing speed, however, due to the same directional changes. When the nozzle comes to these sharp angles, they tend to spend more time slowing down and speeding up in that specific area, leading to over-extrusion and bulging.

Increase Rigidity/Solid Base

You will be able to tell using your observations if this is one of the issues that are affecting you. It’s good practice to try and grab hold of components and see if they wobble.

Make your 3D printer strong and more stable using a few techniques:

• You can add braces to help triangulate the frame
• Add shock mounting which is adding a dampening material such as foam or rubber around your 3D printer.
• Use a firm/solid base such as good quality table or counter.
• Put an Anti-Vibration Pad under your 3D printer.

If you use a flimsy table as a surface foundation to print on, you will worsen the vibrations.

Another thing you can do is put stiffer springs on your bed to reduce the bounce. The Marketty Light-Load Compression Springs (highly rated on Amazon) work great for the Ender 3 and most other 3D printers out there.

The stock springs that come with your 3D printer aren’t usually the greatest quality, so this is a very useful upgrade.

Having more rigid rods/rails can help out if you’ve identified your printer’s rigidity as the main issue. Also make sure your hotend is fitted tightly to the carriage.

Using many of these techniques together should do an adequate job of absorbing vibrations, and you will have an added bonus of making your 3D printer quieter in many cases.

Lighten your Printer’s Moving Weight

Making the moving parts of your printer lighter works by making it require less energy to move, and disperses less energy when moving around the print bed. On a similar front, you can make your non-moving parts heavier so it takes more energy to vibrate in the first place.

Sometimes having your filament mounted on top of your printer can increase the occurrence of ghosting. A quick fix here is placing your filament on a separate spool holder.

This isn’t always an option but if you can invest in a lighter extruder this will definitely help with the issue of ghosting. Some people have dual extruder printers but don’t use both extruders, so removing one of them will help lighten the moving weight.

The video below nicely illustrates how different component weight affects the occurrence of ghosting. It’s done by changing the rods (carbon fiber, aluminum, and steel) and using the ghosting test to observe differences.

Adjust your Acceleration and Jerk Settings

Acceleration is how fast the speed changes, while jerk is how fast the acceleration changes. Acceleration and jerk settings are basically what makes your printer move when it’s in a still position.

Reducing your acceleration settings reduces the speed, and in turn, lowers the inertia as well as any potential wiggle.

When your jerk setting is too high, inertia will be a problem because your print head will make quicker sudden movements in new directions. Lowering your jerk settings gives your print head more time to settle down.

On the opposite side, a jerk setting too low will make your nozzle stay in areas for too long, resulting in details becoming obscure as it takes too long to change directions.

Changing these settings can result in your problem being solved, but if done incorrectly, it can lead to over-extrusion at the sharp corners, similar to reducing the printing speed.

It involves changing the settings in your firmware. Changing things in your firmware without a good understanding of what it does can create more issues.

If your 3D printer has extreme acceleration curves, it can jerk around and create ghosting artifacts, so reducing the acceleration settings is a possible solution.

Tighten Up Loose Belts

When your printer’s motion systems are slack, you have a higher likelihood of experiencing excess vibrations.

The belt of your printer is a usual culprit for this happening. When the belt is loose, it loses precision with printer movements so it can have an effect on resonance. The amount of stretch from a loose belt will allow the print head to move around.

If you experience ghosting with your printer, check if your belts are tight, and produces a low/deep sound when plucked. If you find your belts are loose, simply tighten them using a guide specific to your printer.

It’s similar to having a rubber band, when it’s loose, it’s very springy, but when you pull it tight, it keeps things together.

Final Thoughts on Solving Ghosting

Eliminating ghosting can be difficult because there are many possible culprits of why it occurs. When you identify the issue, things become a lot easier to solve. It is mostly a balancing act, and it can take a bit of trial and error to see what works best for you and your 3D printer.

It can take a combination of these solutions, but once you solve the issue it will greatly improve the quality of your prints!

So eliminating ringing is mostly a balancing act, and you mostly just have to experiment to see what works best for you. Start by making sure your belts are properly tensioned.

Check for loose components such as bolts, belts rods, then start reducing printing speeds. If printing times get too high, then you can adjust jerk and acceleration settings to see if you can improve printing times without sacrificing on quality. Putting your printer on a solid, rigid surface should help out a lot with this issue.

If you found this article useful and would like to read more about 3D printer troubleshooting & other info check out my article on How Loud Are 3D Printers: Tips to Reduce Noise or The 25 Best 3D Printer Upgrades You Can Get Done.

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• Easily clean your 3D prints – 25-piece kit with 13 knife blades and 3 handles, long tweezers, needle nose pliers, and glue stick.
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3D Print Ghosting & Ringing: All 5 Issues Fixed

Few things are as frustrating as ringing and ghosting – which ruin your print with unsightly lines and circles that affect your print’s finish and make models look cheap and poorly designed.

Much like how you want to avoid layers and lines when painting a wall, you’ll want to avoid ghosting in 3D printing. If you find unwanted lines and rings in your models, then you’ll know just how much of a pain they can be, and how hard they are to look at.

In this article we’ll look at exactly this ‘ghosting’ is, its causes, and how to fix them. So don’t worry, just follow our advice here and you’ll have perfectly smooth prints in no time.

Table Of Contents

1. Ringing and Ghosting in 3D Printing: Causes, Fixes & Prevention Tips
2. What Does Ghosting Mean in 3D Printing?
3. What Causes Ghosting in 3D Printing?
   • Loose Frame
   • Bad Printer Support
   • Unstable Build Plate
   • Printing Too Fast
   • Inefficient Design
4. How do You Fix Ghosting on a 3D Printer?
   • Tighten Your Printer’s Frame
   • Be Careful Where You Put Your Printer
   • Make Sure Your Build Plate is Secure
   • Lower Your Print Speed
   • Reduce Jerking
5. How to Prevent Ghosting in 3D Printing
   • Plan Ahead
   • Tighten Your Printer Regularly
   • Replace Worn Parts
   • Avoid ‘Stick Slip’
   • Use Stepper Dampers

Ringing and Ghosting in 3D Printing: Causes, Fixes & Prevention Tips

     The main causes of ghosting in 3D prints are:

• Loose Frame
• Bad Printer Support
• Unstable Build Plate
• Printing Too Fast
• Inefficient Design

     Here how you can fix ghosting in 3D printing:

• Tighten Your Printer’s Frame
• Be Careful Where You Put Your Printer
• Make Sure Your Build Plate is Secure
• Lower Your Print Speed
• Reduce Jerking

     Prevent ghosting in your 3D prints with these techniques:

• Plan Ahead
• Tighten Your Printer Regularly
• Replace Worn Parts
• Avoid ‘Stick Slip’
• Use Stepper Dampers

Ghosting, also known as ringing, is a 3D printing issue that creates an unwanted rippling effect on the surface of your print. These ripples and rings affect the quality of the model’s look, often ruining the print’s overall aesthetic.

There are a few reasons for ghosting in 3D printing, and we’re going to look at them here. If you’ve found these ripples on your print, then be sure to look at each issue we’ll discuss to find what could be causing it for you and how to fix them.

The most common cause of ghosting in 3D printing is vibration. If your printer’s frame or build plate is loose or unstable, then the printer will vibrate and shake too much while printing – and filament won’t be evenly dispersed enough to create a smooth surface.

We’ll also cover settings issues that could be causing these unwanted ripples below.

3D printers are designed to be sturdy and rigid and stay that way while printing. If any part of your printer’s frame is loose, then the printer will vibrate while operational, leading to a ghosting effect.

These vibrations may be difficult to spot with the naked eye, so the problem could be a loose frame even if you don’t seem to notice any movement.

Vibrations are a common problem for 3D printers set on less-than-ideal surfaces. If your 3D printer vibrates at all and is also set on a wobbly surface, then the problem will be exacerbated to the point of ghosting.

Build plates are also supposed to stay put while printing. If the plate moves around even slightly while printing, then the filament will be unevenly dispersed, leading to ghosting.

Much like your printer frame, this movement may be indiscernible at a glance. So this could still be your issue even if you don’t seem to notice while your printer is working.

Printing too fast is a common cause of many 3D printer issues. Overly fast printing can make you printer’s nozzle vibrate too much while extruding, shaking filament and distributing it unevenly.

A rarer but still notable cause for unwanted vibrations is an inefficient design. If your model requires too many sudden direction changes while printing, the jerkiness of these changes can cause vibrations and lead to unwanted rippling.

This could also be due to acceleration settings. If set too fast, these settings will also cause unnecessary jerking that will print ripples onto your model’s surface.

The key to fixing ghosting issues in 3D printing is to minimize vibrations. You can do this be shoring up your printer’s frame, better securing your build plate, ensuring your printer is on a stable surface, or fixing your acceleration and print speed settings to print more smoothly.

Here are a few ways you can fix ghosting issues in 3D printing:

The main cause for vibrations, and thus ghosting, is loose parts in your 3D printer frame. Simply tightening the screws and rods that connect your printer together will ensure the frame is sturdy and stop it from vibrating too much while printing.

It’s also worth checking to make sure your extruder is fastened tightly, too, as the vibrating problems could also be coming from a loose nozzle.

If your printer is on an unstable surface then it will worsen your printer’s vibrations. Keeping your 3D printer on an even, stable surface will help reduce these vibrations and lessen the chance of ghosting.

For the best results, keep your printer on a thin layer of soft, shock-absorbing material like a rubber mat, which will help keep your printer steady at its base.

Like shoring up your printer’s frame, it’s a good idea to make sure your build surface is attached as well as possible. You may need to replace the springs or supports if they’ve become worn, so be sure to check this regularly.

A good rule of thumb is to print slower for higher quality results. Lowering your print speed will help reduce vibrations and will let your extruder layer the filament more evenly.

Printing slower may not also alleviate ghosting issues, but could also leave you with better prints overall. When in doubt, always check the settings recommended by your filament manufacturer and stick to the lower end of the speed scale if you’re running into issues.

Jerking happens when the extruder needs to change direction quickly to accurately print a model. This can be reduced by altering the starting point of the extruder, or by tweaking your design to have fewer turning points overall.

You may also find that your acceleration settings are too high. Overly fast acceleration will increase jerky movements that lead to a rippling effect if overused. Simply lowering these settings could work wonders in preventing ghosting in your models.

The best way to solve the issue of 3D printer ghosting and ringing is to prevent the issues entirely. Sitting your 3D printer on a rubber surface, regularly shoring up your frame’s joints, and replacing worn parts where necessary are all great prevention methods.

Strong vibrations will not only cause ghosting and ringing in your prints, but will also damage your printer over time. Parts and pieces that rub together unnecessarily and wear down faster, which can be expensive to replace or even become dangerously unstable in the long run.

With that in mind, here are some ways you can prevent ghosting in 3D printing and even protect your 3D printer by reducing vibrations.

We’ve already discussed keeping your printer on a shock-absorbing surface, but it’s better to do that before you notice a problem or at least before it gets too bad.

Making sure your 3D printer is on a stable surface like a sturdy desk is a good start, and using a rubber mat for shock absorption will help greatly in keeping your printer still while it works.

Another great way to reduce vibrations is to get into the habit of giving your machine a regular once-over. Tightening any bolts and screws that have become loose over time will make sure your printer stays as still as possible while it prints and helps prevent ghosting entirely.

The frequency with which you should perform these checks depends on how often you use your 3D printer. In general, it’s good to tighten everything up every 5-10 prints to keep things running smoothly.

Rods and beams that have become worn, rusted, or otherwise damaged over time will grind together and vibrate your printer too much, leading to ghosting.Source: Reddit

Checking these parts for wear and tear will help you catch these problems early, and it’s a good idea to replace them whenever necessary. Sometimes, you may just need to wipe down these parts or free them from debris that may have been caught, causing them to move against each other with too much friction and vibrate too much.

If you find these parts are becoming damaged far too quickly or often, then you may need to check with your manufacturer to make sure there are no underlying faults in the hardware.

If your printer is halting or stuttering, or even just making an unpleasant grinding noise, then there’s a chance that your rods and bearings are misaligned. This causes random jerkiness that stutters and shifts while printing instead of being a smooth motion.

If you assembled your printer yourself and notice these faults almost immediately, then you may need to dis- and re-assemble your printer, taking care that everything is aligned correctly.

If it’s a relatively new problem, then some of your 3D printer parts may have become misshapen or bent, and will need to be replaced.

Stepper dampers are multi-purpose shock absorbers used to reduce resonance in moving machinery. They’re commonly seen in speaker systems to make sure the vibrations don’t affect the sound quality or damage the inner workings of the machine. A stepper damper installed on a Creality CR 10 3D printer. Source: Instructables

These dampers effectively offer a rubber buffer between moving parts that doesn’t actively affect their function by reducing movement.

If you’ve ever had a problem with your 3D printer being too loud, then you’ve likely come across stepper dampers before, as they reduce the noise made from the uncovered motor. But they serve a secondary purpose in reducing vibrations and will keep your printer running steadily as it works to help create smoother, ripple-free models.

Related posts:

• Gaps and Holes In Your 3D Print? Here’s How To Fix EVERY Cause
• Prevent Blobs and Zits Ruining Your 3D Print’s Aesthetic
• Causes And Fixing 3D Printed Circles Not Coming Out Round?
• What Causes Poor Quality Bridging & HowTo Fix Them

How to eliminate ringing when printing with a 3D printer

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How to Eliminate "Ringing" when Printing with a 3D Printer

Ringing, also sometimes referred to as haloing or rippling, is when lines appear to repeat on the surface of a product when printed on a 3D printer. This usually does not affect the technical characteristics of the model, but can significantly spoil its appearance.

What causes it?

This defect is caused by vibrations. When moving parts, such as the print head, change direction or pace abruptly, individual parts of the 3D printer resonate, which creates bumps.

1. Tighten the straps

Carelessness in the 3D printer's motion system increases the chance of oscillation. This is especially true of the straps that help move the head. If they are too weakened, they cannot accurately perform their functions.

So check your belts first. They should be tightly stretched, when touched, make low sounds. If you find they are too loose, follow the manufacturer's instructions and tighten them up.

2. Decrease speed

Rapid movement of the print head may cause strong vibration and ringing of the 3D printer. The faster the speed, the faster the direction changes occur, resulting in stronger ripples. Try typing slower, longer is better, but better quality.

3. Find a hard surface

If you want to reduce shaking, the 3D printer must be placed on a hard, level surface. Whether it's a table or a cabinet, the printer must stand completely on it and not move, even while running at fast speeds. If the stand is not rigid, any jitter from the printer will increase.

Many choose "shock absorbers" or "printer feet", they can really help, but you need to make the right choice. Be careful too soft or springy coating will only impair performance. The coasters should not be very soft and slow down the movement, not bounce. Rubber mat is a good choice.

Trust your senses: if you hear a resonance or see a tremble, you need a better base.

These three basic tips will likely help you significantly reduce, if not eliminate, 3D printer problems. If our advice helped solve your problem, we will be very happy.

Happy printing!

Problems, defects, 3D printing errors and solutions

Often during the operation of a 3D printer, problems may arise due to which defects appear on the finished model. Or instead of a neat product, plastic noodles suddenly appear on the table.

In fact, the causes of defects can be conditionally divided into 2 types - these are physical and software.

Physical ones are those that arise due to problems with the mechanics or any other causes that can be eliminated physically. These include problems with printer mechanisms (belt tension, backlash), clogged or deformed nozzle, incorrect table geometry, etc.

Software - these are defects that occur due to incorrect slicer settings or, less often, errors in the printer firmware. For example, incorrectly selected print speed, retract settings, incorrectly selected temperature for plastic, etc.

Very rarely, the problem may lie in the wrong or “flying” printer firmware (although usually the printer simply will not start then), overheating of some boards during printing, etc. These are rather special cases, so we will not consider them.

Model peels off or does not stick to the build plate

This is the most common 3D printing problem. Every 3D printer has had a case when the first layer treacherously rolls, clinging to the extruder, or the most offensive - when it tears off a partially printed model from the table. The first layer must stick tightly otherwise nothing will be printed.

Gap between table and nozzle 9 too large0166