Tricks Every New 3D Printer Owner Should Know
Difficulty: Noob
Objective: Learn the very basic 3D printing tricks
Rafts help stabilize and keep a model flat from warping. Rafts are extra plastic that comes off the model. The following are examples of when it may be good to or not to use a raft.
Each material melts at a different temperature, therefore you need to set the printer to the right temperature. Also make sure that you have enough material to be printed. Most 3D printers will continue without material. So if you have a large object to be printed and the material runs out the printer continues leavin you with an unfinished object with no way to continue it.
These are often over looked when they are quite powerful. Often these include things such as shells, speed, infill, etc. It would definitely be worth looking into and figuring out what each setting does. Changing a setting can often fix a print.
Objective: Learn the very basic 3D printing tricks
1.) Painter's Tape on Print Bed
If you find that you are having a hard time getting your 3D prints off the bedplate, or if you are having a hard time getting your print to stay on the bed plate. Then try putting on Painter's tape. I recommend that you choose the thickest painters tape as the line between the tape will show up on the printed object. I also recommend pulling the tape not only on the top of the bed plate, but around the edge and even on to the bottom.
You can also use pins to pop the air bubbles that form while printing and taking objects off the bed plate to smooth it out.
You can also use pins to pop the air bubbles that form while printing and taking objects off the bed plate to smooth it out.
2.) Printer Settings
Supports
Ideally I make all my own supports so I set the automatic supports setting to off. However id it is on then you can change the angle which is where the supports will be automatically added. The following are where rafts would be needed.
Raft
Rafts help stabilize and keep a model flat from warping. Rafts are extra plastic that comes off the model. The following are examples of when it may be good to or not to use a raft.
Material
Custom settings
These are often over looked when they are quite powerful. Often these include things such as shells, speed, infill, etc. It would definitely be worth looking into and figuring out what each setting does. Changing a setting can often fix a print.
3.) G-code
It sucks to print something for 8 hours to come and find a mess. This can be avoided by checking your model before sending it to the printer. There are many ways such as checking for non-manifolds on the software you used to make the model, using additional software such as Autodesk Meahmixer to find non-manifolds, but the best is to look at the G-code. This can be done at ws.gcode.com where you can upload your model and look at how it will print later by layer.
Category: Basics, G-code, Print Bed, Raft, Supports, Tricks & Tips
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