Howdy Hubbers!
I’d like to develop a handy tool for myself and anyone else getting into 3D printing. As we all know, the 3DP world is a tangle of rabbit holes that can be very confusing and difficult to navigate.
We have a group who are learning/teaching ourselves and each other how to 3DP. We are finding that once a person is past the very basics, they start seeing artifacts in the print that they’d like to eliminate or improve on. This step, without already knowing everything, is the tricky bit. Learning the cause and remedy to something we see in a print can be difficult.
I’d like to compile a diagnostic tool that is functionally similar to these diagnostics from the pistol shooting world:
You look at where the shots impacted, and the tool indicates the likely cause for your inaccuracy.
We should make a pictographic chart showing the most common print inaccuracies/artifacts/problems/etc. with their likely causes and remedies.
For example:
Notice the circled vertical ‘line’. I am certain that each ‘point’ in the ‘line’ is the start/stop location for that layer. Making your slicer somehow spread these start/stop points instead of stacking them should eliminate this. Also notice how the eyebrow interrupted this.
I wish I had more control, but we only have Rep5’s so we are stuck with Makerbot’s software…
Next:
The lower horizontal like seems to be at the ‘waist’, where the diameter stops decreasing and starts increasing. Did it underextrude for some reason. What about the higher line? What causes these, and how to prevent them?
Next:
Why does the bottom layer from Rep5’s always look this crappy? Notice how the perimeter bead doesn’t follow the curves, but is sharply angled. Notice the general gappiness. What causes this, and how to prevent?
tl;dr: Let’s make a photo-based ‘dictionary’ of 3DP problems, with their common causes and fixes!
6 Likes
Wow! I remember when I just started with 3D printing , the first thing that I was looking for was something like this, but it was always difficult to pinpoint everything. Let’s collect them here!
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It can be really frustrating trying to figure this out - especially as most of us are physically scattered and don’t find ourselves in daily proximity with other 3DP enthusiasts.
Being the most knowledgeable person in the room/organization when you barely know anything is a pretty good motivator for improving!
Who knows, what we develop might even turn into something that 3D Hubs puts up on the learn tab of the main page!
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The best fix is coming via 3.8 rerlease, I guess they’re gonna fix a lot of this shown stuff then. @ least they claim to be focusing on that now, as a class action lawsuit is amming the 5th gens now.otherwise, spend 150 bucks on 3DS.
Oh ho ho, I’m following the suit - which, by the way, has NOTHING to do with users/consumers. Stratasys investors only.
I’m also aware of 3DS, but that all misses the whole point of this: to compile a dictionary of common print ‘errors’ and their solutions. The particular examples I posted don’t really even matter, but were supposed to demonstrate the concept.
Nikki
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Please create this guide! I would use it!
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How do I take off this /Makerbot tag that I never added to the post?
This post is NOT about Makerbots NOR their particular issues. (I just happen to have access to a Rep5).
This post is about diagnosing 3DP issues.
Nikki,
I hope to! But I need the community’s knowledge, experience, and support to do so. I don’t even know the true cause of many 3DP issues - I’m still pretty green.
Hubbers:
Post up images with an ‘issue’, what it is called, what causes it, and how to fix it. Once we get a good collection, I’ll edit it all together into a handy document!
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Hey guys, have you see the Pictorial Troubleshooting guide on RepRap?
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Thanks for the link!
I have run across this before, and the general idea is the same but… It’s ugly, unstandardized, unintuitive, and massively incomplete (there are pictures for about half of the issues listed). This is not to blast the product or the RepRappers who contributed to it. It is to highlight the difference between what I would like to build, and what they have built (which should serve as a good resource at least).
I’m going for something that the brand new person to 3DP could pick up and use.
Thanks!
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Completely agree, @positronicman, I took out the tag for you and replaced it with /Research, which seems more appropriate. Let me know if ok.
One thing that pops to my mind is just going to 3Dhubs.com/talk/marvin and going through the list of people who had trouble with their Marvin and set the great samples for pics. Few examples
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This would be so nice! I’m not very experienced, actually I’m very much a beginner, but I’d love to help in any way that I can. I know I’ll be using most of your stuff myself! Thanks!
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