January Puzzler Solution re: Waavy Prints

Below is the solution to the Monthly Puzzler Chief Hacker presented in our January Newsletter. Unfortunately we didn’t have a winner, but look forward to receiving the entries in this month’s featured problem.  Want to play? You can sign up to receive our monthly publication by submitting your email address in the sign up at the bottom of re:3D.org.

If you remember last month’s puzzler, I was asking why the top solid layer was making waves and not laying down flat. If we zoom in on the picture you may notice the last layer of infill is oriented parallel to the solid top layer. Some “roads” or “tracks” of the solid top layer have nothing underneath to bond to and lifted up as it cooled and contracted thus forming the waves.

To avoid this you will need to verify the last layer of infill is printed orthogonal to the solid top layer. In Simplify3D use the toolpath verification and visualization to ensure the correct orientation of the infill. If required, you can change the infill orientation on the “Infill” tab in Simplify3D.

Happy Printing!

Matthew Fiedler

Blog Post Author

What NOT to do 101: Learning to fail from 3D printing

Let’s be honest. 3D printing is hard. Not just because it builds (pun intended) upon the intersection of science & art. It’s a field that despite growing popularity, is evolving lightning fast.

One Month of Hiccups
One Month of Hiccups

For those of us at the affordable spectrum of FFF 3D printers (aka Cartesian hot glue guns), we kluge together whatever resources we have available to force a desired outcome. For me, a 3D printing newbie, this involves an impressive amount of hot glue, filament, 4 letter words, filament, sand paper, more filament, nail clippers and…..even more filament as I try, try and try again to push the limits of human-scale 3D printing.

Over extruding with the bed too close to the hot end
Over extruding with the bed too close to the hot end

As rather impatient non-engineer who just recently learned the difference between a Crescent and Allen Wrench, 3D printing has been quite a journey. My evenings and weekends are all too often filled with endless Internet searches in order to decipher forum lingo and to deduce how to maximize my chances of print success.

Admittedly I also have the benefit of an amazing team to give guidance and correction. Despite the advantage, I regularly make an incredible amount of mistakes as I try to be independent. I have a profound respect for those more fluent in large-scale 3D printing that model success after success online. However, I’m finding I learn more from the fracasos I inspire at least a couple times a week while currently supervising three Gigabots running 24/7.

"Raffling" off failed prints to friends of re:3D at a July 4th party
"Raffling" off failed prints to friends at a re:3D party

So, in the sprit of transparency, and urging of my Coaching Fellowship Mentor Monica Phillips, I’ve begun to document my failures.  My hope is that perhaps that these confessions help another amateur or, at least give my teammates & other lovers of additive manufacturing some comic relief.

Here’s the first of the series. If you’ll excuse the vertical video and amateur filming, we’ll do our best to post one a week to our What Not To Do YouTube Playlist, and perhaps coerce some other members of our team & community to share their laughs, tears, and lessons learned as we work together to take 3D printing to new dimensions.

~ High Five

Samantha Snabes

Blog Post Author

samantha@re3d.org

@samanthasnabes