From the course: Additive Manufacturing: Troubleshoot 3D Prints

Overview: Issues caused by printer hardware

From the course: Additive Manufacturing: Troubleshoot 3D Prints

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Overview: Issues caused by printer hardware

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- [Woman] One of the things that makes it very challenging sometimes to diagnose what is going wrong with the 3D print is that the problem can be a complicated interaction of the 3D printers hardware, its software, the printer saving you've selected, the material you're using, and possible issues with your design in the first place. Teasing all that out can require both some patience and experience. We can't help you with the patience part, but in this course we'll teach you some rules of thumb for diagnosing what's going wrong. In this first chapter, we'll talk about issues that are related to the calibration or design of your printer. If you're having pervasive issues with all your prints, you may want to watch these first. If you're new to 3D printing, the movie, "Parts of a 3D Printer," will help you with the terminology and the basics of how a filament based printer works. You should watch that first if you're unsure of what things are called. At the other extreme, we've included several movies near the end of the chapter there for experts only. If your printer worked in the past, did you change something to make it not work now? Even changing the color of your filament can matter. If the only thing you've changed is the type of filament or if you're struggling to get a particular look for your print, explore the movies in the chapter about filament issues. - [Man] Next check to see if your model is one of the special cases we cover in depth in the chapter about part geometry considerations. Prints that are tall and skinny or that have thin walls sometimes require some settings adjusted. Vase prints, which take a solid shape and make it hollow and open on top, also have some special requirements. Prints that are more solid than usual have critical dimensions or ones with unusual strength requirements also need some extra consideration. - [Woman] If you have problems that occur often and for various geometries, it might be your printer. The movies in this chapter may help. - [Man] Is your print failing to stick to the printers platform? That's a pretty common problem with various causes. If so, watch the movies that explore the different causes of this problem to help you figure out what's going on. - [Woman] Does your print have gaps or lumpy parts? You might be pushing out the wrong amount of plastic. Take a look at the movie in this chapter about over or under extrusion. - [Man] Or if your print has pimples or dimples like we see here or has a lot of fine strings across any open areas, you may have retraction issues. Take a look at that movie. - [Woman] If your dimensions just seem off somehow, watch the movie about calibrations in this chapter to get some guidance about figuring out where your printer's hardware might be having issues. - [Man] If you're struggling with clogs, filament jams, or other extrusion problems, check out the movies about those issues and when to change out your nozzle in that chapter. - [Woman] Debugging what's going on with a 3D print is never easy. The movies in this chapter address the diagnosis of some of the commonest problems that come up and describe what to do to work around them as much as possible. Later chapters look at issues caused by types of filament, by part geometry effects, by slicing software and settings issues, and finally, at those issues there are typically interactions among those things.

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