Troubleshooting Tips

These are some of the most common issues beginners might run into when beginning to 3D print.

• Warping: This often occurs when deposited material cools, (slightly) shrinks, and pulls at lower layers, causing them to peel away from the build plate.
• Stringing: Thin, unwanted strands of filament across your model can be caused by incorrect tuning, temperature, or retraction settings. Also, certain filaments are more prone to stringing.
• Nozzle jams: A clogged nozzle is one of the most irritating problems with FDM 3D printers. If you hear a weird sound from the printhead and notice that the filament isn’t exiting the nozzle (or extruding weakly), you probably have a clogged nozzle. This can be caused by poor filament quality, poor temperature regulation, or filament type, among others.
• Layer shifting: This can be caused by a slight wobble in the Z-axis or excessive printing speed.
• Under-extrusion: Under-extrusion occurs when not enough filament gets extruded during printing. You’ll know you’re experiencing this when you see prints with gaps between layers.
• Over-extrusion: Over-extrusion is the opposite problem: Too much filament is being extruded. This results in drooping layers, bubbles, pimples, and bad results overall.