3D printer troubleshooting cura

7 Common Cura Problems and Fixes – Printing It 3D

Ultimaker Cura is one of the most popular 3D printing software available on the market today. Notably, it’s a fantastic program to use for slicing 3D prints. Still, despite the program being one of the best slicers in demand, users occasionally run into a few problems. 

Here are 7 common Ultimaker Cura problems: 

1. Cura Model Errors 
2. Manifold Error 
3. Overhang 
4. Zits and Blobs
5. Cura Not Slicing 
6. Cura Not Detecting USB Printer 
7. Cura Not Generating Supports 

While these aren’t the only Cura problems, they’re the most common and most troublesome. 3D software can be complicated, but you can easily and quickly get back to printing with a bit of know-how. Please keep reading to learn the common problems that occur with Cura and the best ways to fix them.  

1. Cura Model Errors

One of the most common problems that Cura users run into is model errors. A few reasons for this may include: 

• Self-intersecting 
• Separate objects 
• Holes 
• Inner faces  

Self-intersecting is basically when your mesh has clipping, and it tends to happen with more complex models. 

Cura doesn’t recognize the model in your software due to original design model errors. That can be frustrating when trying to print your model. It can be even more frustrating than getting a leaking nozzle because at least your model prints. 

Inner faces happen when there’s a model within a model. If the mesh has problems in your chosen 3D modeling program, it should be fixed before printing. Luckily, there’s an easy fix to get your model up and working again. 

How To Fix

A model error occurs when the model has an error in the mesh. The error is already causing problems before exportation, so the mesh problem must be located and fixed before you can print out your model using Cura.  

Fix the model error using these steps: 

1. Go into your 3D Design Software settings
2. Look for any models errors and export them into Cura
3. Locate the problem and alter the design in your chosen 3D design software (such as Blender or Maya) 
4. Reload back to Ultimaker Cura by exporting another 3D model from your software 
5. Manifold Error

2. Manifold Error

Another common problem you may run into while attempting to slice your model is a manifold geometry error. 

3D Models must have a manifold. Manifold is simply a way of saying that what supports a 3D model in a virtual sense does not support a model in the real world. If your model has a non-manifold mesh, it won’t print correctly in the real world. 

Non-Manifold is when more than two faces share any model edge; Essentially, two identical edges are on top of each other. This can happen when the model’s edge is extruded but not moved. 

Making your mesh watertight is essential when slicing. Cura won’t print if it recognizes your mesh having holes; it fails to read the file properly and displays an error message. Holes will cause problems when trying to print. It may seem silly, but Cura must ensure the mesh doesn’t have any openings before it marks the print as acceptable enough to slice. 

How To Fix

A 3D model mesh is manifold, which means it has holes within the shell. An object with a non-manifold will cause Cura to slice the model incorrectly. 

To fix this, click on the “file” tab in the drop-down menu and locate the “Repair STL file” button. This method isn’t always successful for every model, but it’s worth a shot before attempting a more complex fix. 

If this method fails, try redesigning your mesh with your chosen 3D modeling software.

3. Overhang

You may come across a problem in your model called the overhang. The overhang angle is how much support material your model has. A slight angle leads to more support. This problem occurs when Cura thinks a vertical wall is present when it’s not. This usually is due to the mesh having the wrong normals. 

Any 3D model with more than 45 degrees horizontal edges is challenging to print. The material must be stable, and overhangs will cause curling, delamination, sagging, or even collapse during the printing process.

How To Fix

There are a couple of easy fixes you can try to fix your model from having an overhang:

1. Check your settings in the section “mesh fixes.” If your model is acceptable, then Cura can fill the parts that need extra filling without you having to redesign. 
2. Click the gear and locate the fixes and make them all visible. If your “union overlapping volumes” are causing the overhang problem, this box must be unchecked. 

Keep in mind that settings save. If you fix things to make all of the faces visible, it may be necessary to readjust for future prints. 

4. Zits and Blobs

Throughout the printing process, the extruder usually maintains a steady extrusion. However, switching between on and off may cause problems. Notably, once a layer is finished printing, a quick blast of over-extrusion can occur if the print head’s filament remains pressurized. Such markings can also be seen at the extruder’s starting point. These are known as zits and blobs.

Here are some common reasons for zits and blobs to occur:

• Printing temperature is high
• Extruder pathing is incorrect
• Coasting is unsuitable
• Printhead is stuttering
• The extrusion system has built-up pressure 
• Too much filament 
• The mainboard is too slow

How To Fix

Here are the common solutions for avoiding zits and blobs:

• Retract and wipe all settings
• Verify the restart distance 
• Relocate the starting point 
• Lower the speed of printing
• Adjust the coasting 
• Reduce extrusion multiplier 
• Lower the print temperature 
• Adjust Maximum Deviation and Resolution

5.

Cura sometimes fails to slice when required. There are many reasons why this may happen; however, it can sometimes occur for no apparent reason. You may click “Prepare,” but nothing happens after this. 

Cura can also sometimes stay stuck on the “Slicing” option without anything ever moving or happening. That can be a frustrating problem among Cura users. Cura is not perfect and is constantly being updated. It’s also a free program and only accepts donations, so updates are sometimes far and few in-between. You may need to fiddle with adjustments to get your Cura to work. 

How To Fix

That can be a frustrating problem and happens randomly. You may have to try a few different solutions that can be time-consuming. Here are a few methods to fix a Cura not slicing issue: 

• Uninstall and reinstall Cura 
• Reset your settings to default 
• Shut off a firewall if necessary 

If none of these troubleshooting techniques work, Cura has a setting under quality called the “cutoff object bottom” in the advanced tab. Try setting this to a non-zero value. 

If problems persist, force the settings into factory setting mode by following these steps:

1. Go to the “Help” tab
2. Find the “Show Configuration Folder” (This opens the folder that holds your settings for Cura) 
3. Close Cura and then remove everything from that folder
4. Restart the program to put the settings back to factory default

6. Cura Not Detecting USB Printer

A common issue with Cura Ultimate is Cura doesn’t detect your USB printer. This happens pretty often, and Cura users find it a frustrating problem among a few others. 

You may decide that connecting a USB port to your computer and printing via USB is a great idea; however, users may experience problems with connectivity. 

Here’s a great video that explains this issue further:

To get your USB printer detected without using a third-party program, use an SD card or Bluetooth connection, whichever is best for you.  

How To Fix

A few easy ways to fix Cura not detecting a USB printer are: 

• Check the port and baud rate in the device manager. Verify that this matches your machine settings in Cura, as this certainly causes your USB not to be detected. 
• Check the USB cord itself. If you have tried the following methods with no luck, then replacing the cord may be the best bet. Many users who have trouble with USB ports usually have a faulty cable or port. You may try to replace the line before adjusting the settings within Cura itself.
• Use your SD card rather than a USB port. That can be a more straightforward fix than using a USB. Make sure your drivers are all up to date, as expired drivers can sometimes cause connection issues. 

7. Cura Not Generating Support

If you need support on your overhang, the settings are marked as “Support Overhang Value,” and Cura still isn’t printing or showing support for your overhang, then your overhang may be too small for Cura to recognize.

If you are running Cura on Windows 10 or Windows 7, you may also experience problems. Cura software sometimes won’t open or opens incorrectly if your computer runs on outdated software. Remember to update your drivers and your computer before using Cura. 

How To Fix

To fix the overhang, try changing your value to zero. This should force Cura to recognize your overhang, no matter how small. You may also load your model into a meshmixer to use their tree support, or you may add your own to your model in places you desire. 

You may also need to check your settings. For instance, settings may be on “everywhere” and not “touching build plate.” Or it may be necessary to adjust the support distance setting until support shows up on the model. 

Before redesigning your model or adjusting any settings, verify that you’re using the most updated version of Cura. Many users have reported this problem when using an older version. 

The Best Cura Settings

If you have problems with Cura, you may need to adjust some of your settings. The wrong settings can cause significant problems when 3D printing and modeling. Always check to ensure the appropriate settings are locked in before troubleshooting problems more in-depth. 

Here are some appropriate basic settings for your Cura software: 

• Layer Height Should be at 0.12 mm (0.005 in) 
• Infill Should be at 20% 
• Initial Fan Speed should be at 0 
• The speed of the first layer should be 20 mm/s (0.8 in/s) 
• Retraction should be at 6mm (0.24 in) 
• The print temperature should be at 200°C (392°F) 
• Printing bed temperature should be at 50°C (122°F) 

Keep in mind that settings also depend on what type of material is used to create the 3D models. Different filaments melt at different temperatures. However, these basic settings ensure your Cura settings are similar settings for your 3D printer. 

It’s important to remember that bed and melt temperature is essential to printing the best 3D models. If you are using a material that melts too fast, you may experience many problems such as nozzle leaking or other issues.  

Having the correct settings for your 3D printer and Cura is crucial for having the best-looking models. Remember that no model is ever perfect, and some imperfections are inevitable, but having the correct settings for your printer is vital to having great prints. 

3D printing is a complex hobby; it requires a lot of learning and understanding of complex programs such as Maya or Blender or other programs that design 3D prints. You may have to take the time to read through many manuals to troubleshoot your problems. It’s not an easy process, and it may be pretty time-consuming. You may also need to replace, redesign, or remake many of your models before being able to slice and print correctly. 

It’s essential to take the time needed to learn about these different types of programs before diving into 3D printing. You may damage or break pieces of your printer that have delicate parts. Be sure to have your settings placed correctly before upgrading or replacing any parts inside your 3D printer.  

Cura is a fantastic program, but with any program, there are bugs. If you have a problem that you don’t believe can be fixed with any of the above solutions, then you may need to report these bugs to the Cura developers. Many bugs are issues with the software itself and will be fixed with the next big update.

🔥 The definitive guide to solving 3D printing problems by Bitfab

🤬Having problems with your 3D printer? You’ve come to the right place.

In Bitfab we have prepared the definitive guide to solve all your 3D printing problems. Thousands of hours of professional 3D printing behind our back to help you with the setbacks you have with your printer.

And we not only give you the keys to diagnose your printing errors but also the best tips to prevent them from reappearing, fix your printer and calibrate. Pictures, videos and our best tips in a mega article.

👇 Enjoy the guide and use the index if you want to go to directly to the part that interests you.

📖 What do you want to read?

🤬 The most common defects and problems in 3D printing

We have put together a collection of the most common problems that arise when using our 3D printer. They are the same problems that we commonly encounter in our online 3D printing service, and so we have quite a bit of experience dealing with and solving them.

A well calibrated printer, correct lamination and an experienced operator are key to avoiding these problems. By having that you will be able to solve any printing problem.

If you experience any of these issues, follow the instructions we give you and if you still can’t solve them, you have the comment box at the end of the article to tell us your doubts.

❌ Warping, the first layer peels off and the parts bend

Warping is a decreasingly common problem, as the vast majority of modern printers have hot beds. In any case, warping can be caused by the following factors:

• Lack of adhesion to the bed: this can occur due to incorrect height of the nozzle in relation to the base, or poor leveling; but also lack of adhesion to the printing surface.
• Thermal contraction of the upper layers, which when “shrinking” pull on the lower layers. If this occurs, the print surface may even break if it is a BuildTak type, as the sticker will be torn off the bed. This can also happen with glass. This happens mostly with materials such as ABS or Nylon, and it is very difficult for it to happen when printing PLA.

Depending on our problem we can look for a solution accordingly:

For the lack of adhesion there are several solutions. If we are using a glass base, it is highly recommended to use some adhesive to increase the fixation of the part. Some known adhesives are the famous Nelly hairspray, or its more professional version 3Dlac. If we are using ABS we can apply a layer of the mixture known as ABS slurry which we can make ourselves by dissolving ABS in a container with acetone.

If your problem is related to thermal contraction, increasing the adhesion will not help you too much since, as we have said, the ABS when deformed can even break our printing base. To solve this problem we can simply cover the printer with whatever we have at home. A large box can work, as well as a more professional enclosure made in a closet.

The idea in this case is to enclose the heat generated by the bed, so that there is not much difference between the temperature of the first layers and the temperature of the upper layers, which are farther away from the heat of the bed.

Here’s an article that we made explaining this problem more in depth: How to avoid warping and cracking in my 3D prints.

❌ Cracking or delamination

Following on from the above problem is cracking or delamination. We talk about cracking when the layers of a part are not well joined, resulting in these layers being separated (hence the name delamination). This problem can be caused by two different reasons:

• Poor adhesion between the layers: the layers do not stick properly to each other.
• Thermal shrinkage: the layers stick together well, but a difference in temperature between different sections of the part causes it to deform, which can cause some layers to separate.

If the problem is lack of adhesion, it is usually due to low of temperature. Most filaments have a temperature range in which they can be printed.

Within this range, lower values will give us a better aesthetic appearance, since the deposition will be “cleaner”. Conversely, higher values will give us better layer adhesion. Printing materials such as ABS at less than the proper temperature often leads to cracking when trying to bond two layers without applying enough heat.

To check if our part is cracking due to lack of adhesion between the layers, we can try to raise the temperature and/or reduce the speed of the layer fan, as excessive cooling can also affect it negatively. Some materials, like ABS, will always be prone to cracking and will be more difficult to control; others like PLA are very easy to print without cracking.

On the other hand, if our problem is thermal contraction the solution is more complicated, as we must manage to create a warmer environment in our printing area. The optimal solution would be to cover our printer, as indicated in the previous point. This can result in some problems, since an excessive temperature can lead to failures in the electronics: missing steps or losing printing artifacts… it can also cause clogging, since there is not enough difference in temperature between the cold zone and the hot zone of the hotend.

In general, avoiding draughts (and the consequent temperature variations) and covering our printer will help, but we must be careful to avoid the problems mentioned.

❌ Layer shift

Layer shifting is a problem that occurs in the form of a displacement on some axis at a certain height. It can occur in the X-axis, the Y-axis or even both simultaneously. The most common causes of layer shifting are:

• Excessive temperature in the motors, or drivers: the electronics in general are not designed to operate continuously at a very high temperature.
• Lack of power in the motors, usually caused by a very low voltage value in the drivers.
• Mechanical failure: it can happen that we have some of our belt’s teeth broken, or there is some debris on the shafts that can cause a jam in the movement of our printer. Sometimes a wrongly tightened component can also cause layer displacement defects when the whole shaft moves freely.

A general advice would be to put heatsinks, and if possible ventilation, to the drivers of our board. These components basically take care of sending all the necessary air flow to the motors, so they tend to heat up. Likewise, if our printer operates in very hot environments it would be appropriate to add some heatsink to the X and Y axis motors as well. If the drivers are very hot, you will usually hear a knock, knock, knock on the motors when the drivers are briefly disconnected to give them time to cool down.

Additionally, you can check if your printer has drivers with adjustable voltage, and if so, you can increase this voltage slightly by carefully turning the potentiometer on each driver. Be careful when doing this, and always do it with the printer turned off or using a ceramic screwdriver to avoid short-circuiting with a metal screwdriver. If you turn up the power on the motors too much you risk falling into the overheating problem again.

Finally, check that the shafts of your printer are clean and free from obstructions. Also check that the belts and bearings are not too tight (if the bearings are tightened with flanges or screws). Shafts that do not move well, over-tightened belts… cause motors to work harder and may lose steps.

❌ Z-wobble

This problem can be difficult to identify, as it is often not easy to distinguish it from a simple inconsistency in the extrusion. To identify it we must look at whether this inconsistency is repeated on a regular basis. If it seems random, or just noise in general, your problem is probably not z-wobble but an extrusion problem. Conversely, if there seems to be a pattern that repeats periodically such as waves on the surface, you may well have a problem with your Z-axis.

This problem is mostly due to structural failures in the construction of the machine, and is difficult to solve without making major modifications to our machine chassis. First of all check that all the parts are properly assembled, maintaining the perpendicularity and making sure that there are no loose screws.

Try to tighten all the screws on the couplers that connect the z-axis motors to the spindles. Also check that there is no wobble between the spindle and the trapezoid nut. It is complicated to give a correct solution, because the axis needs some freedom to move to compensate small errors in the chassis, such as corners that are not perfectly perpendicular.

A good solution that is not too expensive is to replace the motor-coupler-spindle assembly with a motor with a built-in spindle. We can also add reinforcements to our printer so that the frame of the printer does not wobble at the top.

❌ Stringing

Stringing is one of the most common problems in novice parts in the world of 3D printing, so if your parts have a lot of strings don’t worry, it’s totally normal and quite easy to solve.

Stringing appears when, as the hotend moves between two sections of our print, a small amount of plastic drips off and sticks to both sections, leaving a small thread in between.

This problem can be caused by the use of a bad quality hotend, but usually the machines have a hotendsn of sufficient quality, so the problem almost always comes from bad lamination in the slicer.

The most important parameters you should check in your slicer to minimize the stringing are the following:

• Temperature
• Retraction distance
• Retraction speed

Temperature is a vital factor and probably one of the 5 most important settings in your profile. If you have a lot of stringing you are almost certainly melting at too high a temperature. Remember that all materials have a range of temperatures in which they can be printed, so try lowering the temperature and bringing it closer to the lower limit recommended by the manufacturer. If you are already using a very low temperature and still have stringing, check the following points.

While it is not possible to “suck” plastic out of the nozzle, as no negative pressure can be created, it is possible to minimize the pressure on the nozzle by pulling the filament out of the hot zone of our hotend. The shrinkage distance is very dependent on our printer, as both the melter and extruder and the type of extrusion (direct or bowden) must be considered. Most bowden printers perform well with a shrinkage value between 3mm and 6mm, and direct extrusion printers between 0.5mm and 2mm.

The speed of retraction is another important factor, as the higher the speed the lower the stringing. This speed will depend on the motor of our extruder and also on the type of extrusion (1:1 vs 3:1 like the Titan extruder). Generally values between 40 mm/s and 60 mm/s usually work, but if you have any doubt, please ask in a forum or group dedicated to your specific printer.

Additionally, almost all slicers or laminators have different more advanced settings that can help reduce the stringing, but these will only be of importance if the three previous ones are well adjusted. This is a very broad topic and we could make an exclusive guide about this problem, so if you want to see it, leave us a comment!

❌ Overheating, curling

One of the easiest problems to diagnose is overheating.

As we can see in the image, melting our plastic at an excessive temperature will cause the parts to look deformed, with the center of the layer sunken. This is because when melted at too high a temperature, the material does not have time to cool down, and that is why the layers can collapse or sag.

These deformations will be much more pronounced in small areas, such as small peaks of our part, where instead of a clean figure, a deformed churro will remain.

The solution to this problem is simple: lower the temperature. We must also play with the values of the layer fan, since a high temperature can favor a more fluid extrusion and we can compensate this temperature with a good cooling. In this way the material will be cooled down quickly and we will be able to obtain optimal results.

❌ Elephant’s foot

The elephant foot is a defect consisting of the expansion in the horizontal plane of the first layers of our part. It can occur due to two things or, normally, a combination of both: the nozzle is too close to the bed or the temperature of the bed is too high.

If the nozzle is too close to the bed, it is obvious that the first layers will be more flattened and therefore expand in the XY plane. To solve this problem we must correctly level our first layer, as indicated in a previous section of this article.

An excessive bed temperature (say, 90 or 100 degrees for PLA) can cause the newly deposited plastic to expand and deform, causing this very characteristic effect.

❌ Ghosting, ringing

The best article on this topic on the internet is the 3D Campy post by 3DSpana about ghosting, because he dedicated himself to try different combinations and components, taking pictures of the results, so you can see how decreasing the weight of the axes affects ghosting. If you prefer it on video, here’s the summary:

😍 Keys to print correctly with your printer

You’ve seen the list of problems we’ve collected. Now you have to know how to DO things.

Knowing your printer and laminator is the key to error and defect-free printing, so here are some tips to avoid problems and help you diagnose and fix them:

✅ Printing speeds

One of the most common mistakes we find on beginners is wanting to print too quickly on their first parts.

The printing speed is one of the most important printing parameters to obtain the best printing quality and an excess of speed affects the part very negatively for many reasons: vibration, extrusion problems, overheating, loss of steps…

One of the first things you have to do when you encounter a problem is to reduce the printing speed to see if it is solved. We usually print almost all parts between 40 and 60mm/s, no more is needed for most cases. In a printing service the most important thing is reliability and when you are looking for reliability it is best to print at reasonable speeds so you don’t have to throw the parts away.

It is not necessary to print your parts at 100mm/s, especially the first ones. Yes, we all know someone who does it and gets it done, but it’s not the best way to make sure they come out right.

✅ Bed adjustment and leveling

Learning to set the bed correctly level and the extruder at the right height is one of the first steps we take with a new 3D printer.

Here’s what a properly adjusted bed looks like: the height of the first layer has to be correct across the entire surface of the bed.

First layer too close

If your first layer is too close to the printing surface, you can cause jams, scratches on the bed, parts with the wrong dimensions, elephant foot…

Correct first layer

When the first layer is correct, the threads deposited by the extruder touch each other and are not too flat against the bed.

First layer too separate

A very separate first layer can be noticed by the separate threads.

Parts printed in this way are usually detached from the bed or warp.

And how do you properly level a hot bed? Our preferred technique is paper in the corners. It is not necessary to have a printer with self-leveling, the best thing is to have a reliable and well calibrated printer to print with quality.

✅ How to prevent and fix extruder clogging

Extrusion jams are the number one cause of failure on a farm like ours. You may have mastered your printer but the jams are always going to be there, so it’s critical to understand them and be able to prevent and fix them.

If you don’t yet understand how a 3D printer extrusion works and what the common terms for referring to them are, you can first check out our guide to 3D extruders.

Causes for clogging

Clogs arise from many different causes, sometimes in conjunction with each other. I believe the best way to solve them is to first understand all those causes and then try a series of techniques that can help fix them.

• Contamination at the tip and print canal. Impurities that are deposited in the print canal or at the tip of the nozzle and hinder or completely block the flow of the filament.
• PTFE/teflon degraded. Teflon hotends in the hot zone require maintenance of the Teflon, which when degraded clogs the filament flow.
• Extruder problems. Maybe your extruder is not working properly:
  • Too much tension or too little tension in the dock
  • Low voltage in the driver that does not give enough power to the motor
  • Dirty thrust wheel, with teeth covered with filament debris
  • Any loose or broken parts
• Scratching the filament. This is very, very important to understand. When we see the scratched filament, nibbled by the extruder wheel, it is not always the cause of the clogging. All printing clogs, whatever the cause, end up scratching of the filament. And only those clogs that are due to spring tension and excessive shrinkage are the root cause of the clog itself.
• Tip scratching the base. If the first layer is too low, it can interrupt the flow of the melted plastic and quickly cause a clog in the extrusion system.
• Watch out for shrinkage. A part with a lot of very fast retractions can end up scratching the filament. And long, slow retractions can overheat the cold zone of the extruder and cause clogging as well. In general, retractions won’t cause your clogs, but you should always keep an eye on them.
• Poor cooling. Cooling is a fundamental variable in all-metal hotends. If your extruder is 100% metal like the E3D V6 you have to be very careful with this and with excessive shrinkage.

Unclog the nozzle with acupuncture needles

The technique of passing an acupuncture needle through the printhead is most useful if the real cause of your clog is an impurity. The nozzles themselves last many hundreds or even thousands of hours of use, so you will almost never have to change them.

Most likely a particle has been deposited in the nozzle and you should be able to get it out with the needle. We heat the head and stick the needle while hot, and then pull out the filament with the particles that might be causing the clogging embedded in the molten filament.

Repeat this process until the plastic comes out of the nozzle again easily.

Hot and cold pulling

The pulling takes a little longer to do than using the acupuncture needle, but it cleans the impurities better and also takes away the filth not only from the tip, but from the whole interior of the hotend.

They are easier to explain with a video like the one below:

Teflon switching

In hotends with Teflon liner it is necessary to change this component, in general, every several hundred hours. The Teflon or PTFE liner is a small tube that goes in the hot zone of your hotend to guide the filament in the last centimeters of run, and that is degraded due to the temperature it reaches. Changing it is a job that you will have to learn to do to properly maintain your printer.

Before the tube degrades completely, you will notice that your printer is having more and more trouble printing, the filament thread that comes out is thinner and it’s harder for it to deposit material on the parts that you print faster.

In every printer the change of Teflon is different, but here is the example of the Hephestos 2 from BQ to help you understand it better.

Adjusting the printing parameters

There are clogs that can occur because our laminate is not well adapted to the type of part and printer we are going to use.

To allow your printer to extrude more easily you can try:

• Printing slower
• Printing at a higher temperature
• Printing thinner layers
• Reducing the flow rate if you have more than 100%

These are all tricks that reduce the requirements on the extruder and melter because they require less flow through the hotend and heat the plastic to make it more fluid.

Retractions can also influence extrusion problems:

• Too many or too fast retractions can result in scratching of the filament in the extruder.
• Too long or too slow retractions can cause cooling problems in your melter (especially if it is all-metal) or end up clogging the plastic in the cold zone of the melter.

If you don’t know how to fix it, dissasemble the extruder and hotend

The best way to attack a mechanical problem that you don’t know how to solve is to proceed to disassemble what you want to fix. Taking apart a hotend and an extruder is quite simple and will allow you to see inside what is happening and reflect on the problem.

When you dismantle your extruder you will notice that there are some broken parts, dirt somewhere, some loose screws…

If you disassemble the hotend you will be able to see the state of the Teflon, the tension of the hotend threads and if there is print residue deposited in the filament canal.

In either case, take the opportunity to clean the parts to prevent errors in the future.

👋 That’s it for the 3D printing troubleshooting guide by Bitfab

Thank you so much for getting this far.

If you have any doubt or a different problem just put it in the comments and we will help you solve it, or maybe even add it to the rest of the problems 😁

👋 Greetings and thanks again!

Problems, defects, 3D printing errors and solutions

Often during the operation of a 3D printer, problems may arise due to which defects appear on the finished model. Or instead of a neat product, plastic noodles suddenly appear on the table.

In fact, the causes of defects can be conditionally divided into 2 types - these are physical and software.

Physical ones are those that arise due to problems with the mechanics or any other causes that can be eliminated physically. These include problems with printer mechanisms (belt tension, backlash), clogged or deformed nozzle, incorrect table geometry, etc.

Software - these are defects that occur due to incorrect slicer settings or, less often, errors in the printer firmware. For example, incorrectly selected print speed, retract settings, incorrectly selected temperature for plastic, etc.

Very rarely, the problem may lie in the wrong or “flying” printer firmware (although usually the printer simply will not start then), overheating of some boards during printing, etc. These are rather special cases, so we will not consider them.

Model peels off or does not stick to the build plate

This is the most common 3D printing problem. Every 3D printer has had a case when the first layer treacherously rolls, clinging to the extruder, or the most offensive - when it tears off a partially printed model from the table. The first layer must stick tightly otherwise nothing will be printed.

Gap between table and nozzle 9 too large0023