5 3D Printing Mistakes you WILL make - and how to avoid them! 3D Printing 101 Video Lecture | What is 3D Printing: Basic Knowledge - IT & Software

in today's video we're talking about
five mistakes that you will make when
getting into 3d printing let's get
started welcome back to know 3d printing
101 here on makers muse guys so what I
mean by mistakes that people will make
well with 3d printing there's a lot that
can go wrong when you're first getting
into it and I'm talking about FDM 3d
printing not the resin based systems
that are becoming a bit more popular now
for hobbyists and these are mistakes
that I have personally made many times
in the past so it's my hope of this
video that I can share that share these
mistakes with you so you can avoid
actually making them yourself anyway
let's get started mistake number one
incorrect bed level or nozzle height
this is massive I've got an entire
series of videos one on correct first
layer and one on bed leveling but
basically your first layer of your 3d
print is the most critical if this is
not correct if it's too far too close
not level then your print will fail
either straight away or hours into the
process so this is one of the first
things that newcomers to 3d printing
actually miss they're really keen to get
into it and I'll rush into 3d printing
especially on machines that have
manually leveled systems like the
popular Aldi printer that just was
released again this year you know that
machine has four Springs one in each
corner and you manually level that bed
so if you don't spend a lot of time
getting that accurate first off you're
gonna end up with lots of prints that
fail and it may be really frustrating
not knowing exactly why that's happening
well it all comes down to your correct
bed level and nozzle height so that's
number one number two using the wrong
settings so this is something I've done
many times in the past I have used my 3d
printing slicer I've sliced a file sent
it to the printer and then wondered why
is the plastic warping or why does it
look so crap well I've used the wrong
material settings in my slicer I've used
the wrong settings and you might think
yeah that that doesn't sound like
something I'd do it's actually easier to
make this mistake than you think it's
just one number that you can change and
that makes all the difference to your
printing quality for example you might
be running multiple materials you see
behind me I have a whole plethora
plethora of materials behind me of
different types for example this is poly
alchemy elixir PLA it's a PLA plastic
but it prints at a higher temperature
than other brands of PLA so using the
right settings is absolutely critical
and getting a good print off your
machine and it's one of the first
mistakes people will make is I'll use
the wrong settings and always spend that
little bit of extra time in the slicing
stage to double-check your your actual
parameters before you go ahead and send
the g-code and wonder-why print doesn't
work mistake number three tangled
filament I'm sorry to break this to you
guys but if you're getting tangled
filament it's not the manufacturers
fault it's probably something you've
done
generally when filaments manufactured
and spoiled on two rolls it can't
physically get tangled it's something
that happens when you open up the box
and to demonstrate and make pulley
alchemy very sad because it's the
closest spool this is how you should
store filament you should have it looped
around one of the holes on the side of
the side of a spool and store like this
do not store it like this because what
can happen extremely easily is that this
loose end can dive under another one and
you can roll it up and it might look
like it's fine it might look like the
spool has no tangles until several hours
into the print and you notice that it's
catching or worse case you don't even
see it catch it jams the whole spool
gets pulled towards the extruder and the
filament stops extruding and your print
fails tangled filament is a real pain
especially if you're swapping colors
quite often in a print production studio
environment so if you do have a tangle
or suspect you have a tangle my advice
is to pull as much film energy can like
this usually helps have a friend as well
to help pull the spool the the spool
filament away from you and then you
basically want to wind it on in a way
that it doesn't tangle now filament will
kind of want to start wrapping around
itself like it's doing on the floor
there so always give it a chance to spin
and see the end spinning here and then
by unrolling as much as you
can to make sure there's no tangle
you're going to ensure that won't be a
tangle during your actual print I
actually have a really great video of
the sounds of 3d printing failure if you
want to check that out which also has
the sound of a tangled roll of filament
if you want to get used to that audio
cue to know if your 3d printers
suffering from it I do warn you it's a
painful video to watch but you can click
the card here and check it out mistake
number four not using support materials
where they are needed avoiding support
material is totally fine for lots of 3d
printing and lots of designs out there
for 3d printing have been designed to
not need support material but on the
other hand a lot of them do and it's
very easy to commit a file to printing
that will fail catastrophically because
you did not put support materials in the
software's these days some of them are
getting better but a lot of them will
not give you any sort of visual feedback
as to you like the fact you need support
materials it comes down to just trial
and error and personal experience one of
the files I like to print quite often is
the gaia andersen cat which has a very
nice overhang where the head is and if
you do not put support material in the
print will look perfect until the last
last 10 15 minutes or so in which case
it will start trying to print the head
and then the cat will end up like an
abomination so avoiding support
materials is fine but always keep in
mind that you should check to see if you
need it by using the g-code preview if
available in your slicer
because sometimes of allowing for
support material can mean the difference
between a print surviving and succeeding
or failing horribly and finally mistake
number 5 this one sums up all of the
others not monitoring a 3d printer I
need to say this 3d printers whether
they're the cheapest kit on the market
all the way up to extremely high and
machines can fail and they can fail
quickly within the first few minutes or
they can fail towards the end but it's
really important to always keep an eye
on your 3d printer check it every 15
minutes or so what I tend to do is I
send a print and I watch it lay down the
first layer and then I'll come back
maybe 10 15 minutes later to make sure
it hasn't pulled off that layer and then
I'll come back maybe every hour or two
hours after that because usually once
that first leg is stuck down like I said
you're good but I worked in a print
studio and I had way too many people
come in because they committed to print
and then something went wrong straight
away so they had a printer running for
20 hours or so making a ball of plastic
that just covered the nozzle and extra
assembly and just made the whole printer
destroyed because I didn't monitor their
3d printer also on a safety aspect guys
monitoring a 3d printer is important
because a lot of machines on the market
now have a bit of an issue with
connectors failing and care some of them
can have a fire risk aspect to them as
well so it's really important to monitor
printers in case something goes wrong
and you can be there to actually stop it
also filament this is just a bit of a
bonus mistake but keeping track of if
you have enough filament in the machine
some machines do have filament feedback
systems now but a lot of them don't so
making sure your machine's not just
about to run out of filament with five
hours left is also another good reason
to make sure you go and check your
printer so thanks for watching guys hope
you enjoyed these 5 3d printing mistakes
that people make and hopefully by
discussing them with you you won't make
them in future as I said I've made all
of these and more before and also this
is a good opportunity to mention our new
e-book 5020 praying tips and tricks'
because I used to work in this industry
full time and I have picked up many
little knickknacks and tips and tricks
that can help keep 3d printers running
and we just released that last week
that's been quite popular and you can
check the card out here to learn more
and if you enjoyed this video on makers
news guys I want to see future 3d
printing tips tricks and reviews and
more 3d printing 101 I would love you to
subscribe I would means quite a lot to
me so thanks for watching guys and happy
printing bye
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