Troubleshooting Help

I know from experience that when starting out with a low budget printer both identifying the problem and fixing it can be the second most time consuming process behind actually printing stuff. Outside of hardware issues, I have found two resources to be the most helpful in dealing with problems. The first is Simplify3D's Quality Guide and the second is Rigid.Ink's Ultimate Troubleshooting. These provide images of what the issue causes and provides the most common causes of the issues for you to resolve. For a couple other common issues that might not be mentioned in these guides I have provided some insights below.


    Prints to sticking to bed:
  • Some of the issue could be the heat not properly distributing across the whole bed in which case getting a thermal glass tile to cover your bed should help.
  • It could also be a cooling issue, where your first layer is cooling to quickly. Try increasing your heat bed temperature or having your fan off or at a low setting for the first few layers.
  • Your bed might also just be too smooth to have the friction needed to keep it in place. Solutions range from using hairspray, rubbing a glue stick on the print bed, or clipping masking tape upside down to the bed.
    Print failure caused massive glob over extruder:
  • This one can definitely be a scary one. First suggestio, if the heating element still works, would be to try to heat it up to 20+ degrees (C or F) higher than the maximum point for the material you were using. Be careful if you have a PTFE tube in your extruder as high temperature can damage this piece.
  • After reaching temp and then waiting 10 or so seconds, I would take some pliers and try to pull the large pieces off, being careful not to pull any wires with it, as well as any material feeding into the extruder.
  • For the metallic components, I would take some copper mesh or copper wool (highly advise against steel wool as it can be flammable) with a glove and try to gently remove the remaining material.
  • For the non-metallic pieces, such as the heat tape or wires, if the damage is severe I would suggest just replacing the parts, as the time it takes to go multiple rounds of cleaning and failing to work could be longer than waiting for new parts to arrive and just replacing.
  • The next step would be to clear out the extruder and nozzle to avoid any difficult clogs at any point. If you have a PTFE tube it might be worthwhile to replace it (it's a pretty cheap piece) to avoid headaches down the road with it causing clogs.

Youtube Resources

If it exists, it's on youtube. So don't be afraid to search for your issues or printers to see if anyone else ran into the same problem and can walk you through it.


Maker's Muse

Maker's Muse has a significant amount of content over 3D printing and provides beginner and advanced information for those looking to get started or those already well versed.

3D Printing Nerd

3D Printing Nerd also has some quality videos and tips over 3D printing, but also does a lot of coverage over the 3D printing industry itself if you're looking to get more invovled.