First print of calibration cube on an i3. Any tips on what is causing the lines and how to fix it?
Look at your slicer settings for travel distance in the XY direction. Looks like your nozzle is traveling outside the print but not far enough and it is drooling. Also over extrusion?
Thanks. I’m new to this and my friend’s printer gets great results (also cost $$$ more) so I’m a bit frustrated at not being able to replicate similar results. I’ll take a look at the travel distance and google for how to tighten the straps.
Actually, the square shape is relatively good. When I try a dodecahedron, it is a total mess:
The top of the dodecahedron is relatively OK. The bottom,which is the side with overhang is terrible.
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Some serious part cooling is needed. Tighten your belts. If you got any of those belt tensioners, get rid of them. Print cooler will also help.
Light sand paper
Are you using “retraction prime amount” and a random z seam? it looks like too much (btw. cura didn’t calculate this by the time or at least travel distance - it is a fixed value)
@Ulrich_Baer I will check that setting. I think @Panayiotis_Savva is right with the part cooling. When I examine the dodec print, the worst part is all on one side and mostly on the underside. I will install a part cooling fan and see how that improves and then look to see if the belt tension can be optimised.
@Philip_Money_Mongoos I would assume that there are two issues. on the dodecahedron cooling is one … on the cube this partly overextrusion (probably where he start a layer) doesn’t seem to be cooling related
my best guess is over extrusion starting a new layer, temperature of hotend a little high, and part cooling being needed.
not sure the settings in Cura but in S3D a negative restart distance is one way to deal with over extruding at the start of a new layer.
Might be running the filament a little hot as well given the amount of looping on the overhangs, a bridging test object might help tune for this issue. will also help tuning the printer when the part cooling fan is installed.
Print head location looks ok to me due to the uniform overhangs on the blobs, that indicates to me the print head is moving a consistent amount and the issue is heating and cooling and pressure not alignment or overtravel due to mass inertia on travel moves.
Use a heat gun or blow dryer 
Just here to repeat what Ulrich said. The thick beads at the start of a layer look like they’re related to the retraction settings.
@jesse_dean you mean too much or too little retraction? It is currently set to the default on slic3r. From memory 2-3
Well retraction by itself retracts the filament at the end of a bead, and then advances it the same amount at the start of one… so that shouldn’t cause excess on it’s own.
However (and I’m not familiar enough with slic3r to say for sure) lots of slicers include an priming setting which allows extra filament to be pushed during the advance. If there is minimal drool after a retraction, then zero should be safe for the priming setting.
Again, not an expert on slic3r, but that’s what I see in the print.
@jesse_dean Thanks. I will try experimenting with this. I made the mistake of trying to print ABS which didn’t work at all so now, I need to switch back and try printing some Z-struts and cooling shrouds to see if that helps.
An update with the original (left), reduced temps (middle), better cooling (right). There are some improvements, but some issues still on the edge. The last two were printed as hollow which may have caused some additional problems.
I will try adding Z-braces and removing tensioning springs to see if that helps. I will also print a temperature calibration object to find the optimum temperature.
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The biggest impact of hollow prints is they reduce the time to complete a layer. This will actually require more cooling to compensate.
One thing I often do when printing parts that have layers which print in under 30 seconds is print multiple copies at a time. This gives each part extra time to cool between layers. Overhangs are especially sensitive to inadequate cooling, so I think you’re closer than you realize
@jesse_dean Thanks for the words of encouragement. I was close to throwing the printer out of the window a few days ago when the nozzle clogged and I could get nothing to print properly. Luckily, I managed to learn to how disassemble the hot end and clean out the clog and am back in business. I’m actually considering buying a cheap $200 3D printer to do experiments on.