15.2 Flaws in printed objects

A number of websites have helpful 3D printing tips, including photos of objects exhibiting symptoms of common 3D printing problems. For instance, Simplify3D has compiled one helpful such guide:

Simplify3D Print Quality Troubleshooting Guide

Another helpful guide has been assembled by the All3DP Printing Magazine:

All3DP – 3D Printing Troubleshooting: 34 Common 3D Printing Problems

You may wish to try looking over such object problem images to find something that looks like your object problem, to familiarize yourself with terminology used to describe that problem. Then return to this section and look for a description of your problem. Rather than attempting to recapitulate some such comprehensive object problem image galleries and diagnosis discussions, this section will focus on summarizing some common 3D printing object flaw problems with reference to any Polar Cloud “PRINT SETTINGS” that may be particularly relevant for addressing them.

You may notice recurrent themes of what can influence or solve numerous different types of object problems; besides good adhesion to the print bed and of course a well leveled build plate print bed, certain “PRINT SETTINGS” will get mentioned a lot, including:

• “Temperature” of the extruder (and “Platform Temperature” for printers with a heated print bed)
• “Cool” settings, especially those for a “Cooling Fan”
• “Print Speed”
• “Layer Thickness”
• “Retraction” settings, especially “Z Hop”
• “Wall Thickness” and “Top Layer Count”, controlling the number of shells printed for the object
• “Support”, as needed

These are all generally important factors for successful prints. The aim of this section will be to help steer you more specifically toward which such settings and what sorts of adjustments may be helpful for particular sorts of problems.