Maker Steve’s 3D Printing Rules to successful 3D Prints

I will continue to update this page as I discover other issues.

 

Maker Steve’s 3D Printing rules to live by..


UPDATE! Upgrade to an Aluminum Extruder.. especially on an Ender 3/Pro!

https://makersteve.com/2019/03/19/a-tale-of-eight-enders-aluminum-extruder-upgrade/

If you are getting a lot of hairs, stringing or filament is building up around your hotend, replace and tighten the nozzle, tighter.

I experienced this quite a bit recently.  Thought it was a bad hotend, appears to be that I wasn’t willing to tighten the nozzle enough.IMAG2334IMAG2333IMAG2332IMAG2329

If your nozzle looks like this.. it is probably not tight enough.

IMAG2020.jpg

If your hotend looks like this.. your nozzle is not tight enough.IMAG2021.jpg


Don’t let your printer dry run too long without filament

  • It with warp or break-down the PTFE in the hotend.

Look for shavings on your extruder

  • It’s a good indicator there is a problem.
  • It can clog your PTFE and prevents the proper amount of filament from getting to the hotend.
  • Essentially, your filament is getting shaved down.
  • Often it is because the extruder tension arm is too tight.
  •  The green arm below.  Loosen the large screw if required.

Shavings

 


Listen to your printer for odd sounds…


Filament management

  • Don’t let filament sit for a long time, it gets brittle and absorbs water.
  • If  you aren’t going to use your printer for a long time, pull the filament out.
  • Store filament in dry boxes or drawers.

I use the silica packs from my filament and throw them in the box or cabinet to limit moisture. – see above

  • Don’t let your filament run out during a print if you can avoid it.
  • Find a good filament and stick with it as long as you can afford it.  I am using dikale 3d Printer filament at this point, $17.99 a roll, great quality.  I have been through more than a dozen rolls.

Use Threadlocker on your screws – especially the hotend.

IMAG1115


Print with a Brim

  • They make the print take a little longer but almost always payoff in the long run.
  • Brim’s are required for Squares or the corners tend to come up.
  • Don’t be afraid to run a bigger brim.  I typically run 8mm but to get all of the support material to connect sometimes I will 12mm as with the image below.

IMAG1533.jpg



There is a ton of other useful stuff on Makersteve.com and more coming every week.

Be sure to check out my Ultimate Build Guide for Creality Ender 3

If you find this useful, please consider purchasing products through any of the links on the page, it’s free to you and I get a little something for my time.  Or, just go shopping at Amazon or Ebay  or Gearbest.

You can also support me through Patreon with as little as a dollar a month.

Happy Printing,

Steve