Getting a good print
Contents
Tips and tricks to 3D printing
Additive manufacturing is not a magical process. The physics of classical mechanics, thermal dynamics and fluid mechanics are all fairly well understood. The difference between traditional (subtractive) manufacturing and 3D printing (additive) manufacturing is the application of the physics involved. Below is a study of the science and art of physics applied to 3D printing.
Importance of the first layer
The layer wise building process of 3D printing relies on a flat building surface. The first layer deposited on the build plate is the foundation for your print.
Detailed instruction on these three steps can be found here: Calibrating your Gigabot
- Taking the time to ensure the build plate is flat and parallel to the head movement
- Setting the Z home position for the build plate
- Calibrating the filament feed rate
Printing overhangs
There are two things that will help in printing overhangs without support material
- Increasing the filament extrusion rate
- Increasing the number of perimeters in the slicing parameters
Printing narrow tall objects
It sometimes happens that printing tall thin objects will result in poor print quality. This often happens when there is too much heat being applied to a small area. The visual indications of too much heat in the print:
- Curling of the edges and not maintaining a flat top layer
- Sagging of the plastic
To fix this problem-
- Increase the minimum time for each layer:
- Slic3r -> Filament Settings -> Cooling -> Cooling Thresholds -> Slow down if layer print time is below
- Reduce the minimum print speed:
- Slic3r -> Filament Settings -> Cooling -> Cooling Thresholds -> Min print speed
- Reduce the hot-end temperature