As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m a 3D printing newbie. It’s been a steep but fun learning curve, and I thought I’d share a few lessons learned so that other beginners can learn best practices and/or avoid mistakes that I’ve made.
Choose a Slicer. First some background… A 3D printer extrudes filament onto the print bed, and you can think of that as “the last mile” of 3D printing. Before the actual print job can begin, you need a slicer application that provides instructions to your 3D printer (via a G-Code file) that tells it precisely how to lay down the filament step by step to print your 3D object. The slicer needs to be configured to understand what 3D printer you’re using because 3D printers vary in their physical dimensions, number of extruders, and other parameters that affect the physical limits of what can be printed. After loading a 3D model into the slicer, a user must also specify nozzle temperature (which may need to be adjusted based on the material that is used for the print), bed temperature (to ensure proper adhesion), print quality (layer height), wall thickness, infill density, supports, and many other parameters that may need to be customized to the object that is being printed. Getting the settings wrong in the slicer may lead to a 3D print yielding a pile of spaghetti.
I have a Creality Ender-3 V2 Neo, and Creality provides free slicing software. While it may be advantageous to use the slicer that is provided by your 3D printer manufacturer (e.g., ensured compatibility with your 3D printer), there is also potential benefit to choosing a slicer that has wide community adoption and strong developer support so you get more frequent bug fixes and new features. For this reason, I chose Ultimaker Cura which is a free open-source slicer. Of course, there is no reason why you can’t use more than 1 slicer, but I find it easier as a beginner to learn the nuances of just 1 slicer application. A more in-depth comparison of Creality slicers vs. Cura is provided here. I’ve also heard good things about PrusaSlicer but have not used it. A more comprehensive comparison of slicer applications is available here.
Calibrate Z-Offset. In addition to getting all of your slicer settings correctly configured, you must also set the Z-axis offset (or just “Z-offset” for short) which determines the height (i.e., position of the nozzle on the vertical or Z axis) of the first layer of your print. If the Z-offset is too low, you could squish the bottom layers of your object and even damage your print bed. If the Z-offset is too high, you may get poor adhesion and a failed print job. Unfortunately I’ve committed both errors, so I understand the importance of getting the Z-offset setting just right. This article explains different ways to set the Z-offset, but you should also check with your 3D printer manufacturer for additional best practices on how to optimize that setting.
Remove Filament Tangles. Most filament-based 3D printers have an extruder that pushes and pulls filament through a hot nozzle where the filament is laid down to create your 3D object. Filament is typically packaged in spools where you thread the free end into the extruder of your 3D printer. Before you thread the filament into the extruder, it is a good idea to make sure that you’ve checked for tangles. If your filament happens to wrap over itself, the resultant tangle may require additional force to pull the filament from its spool, and that can result in under-extrusion or a complete stoppage of filament extrusion depending on the degree of entanglement. Obviously this can result in failed print jobs which is frustrating because your only recourse is to start over. Unfortunately this happened to me twice before I figured out why my print job kept failing.
If you are a beginner, I hope you learned a thing or two from this post. Also check out Failed 3D Prints, and How to Fix Them and 3D Printing Troubleshooting: All Problems & Solutions for more practical advice as well as 17 Epic 3D Printing Fails & Why They Failed for a more humorous (or not so humorous, depending on your point of view) look at epic 3D printing catastrophes that will likely make you feel better about your own 3D print failures.
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