Symptoms: Prints exhibit under-extrusion (weak, brittle lines), layer shifting or skipped steps (especially during rapid infill or travel), excessive ringing or ghosting artifacts on surfaces, prints taking significantly longer than expected despite high speed settings, or the printer vibrating loudly/excessively during moves. Blobs or zits might appear if speeds are too low without adequate retraction or Pressure Advance tuning.
Solution: Optimizing Print Speeds for Performance and Strength
Symptoms: Print quality degrades significantly (e.g., under-extrusion, gaps, weak layers) specifically when printing at higher speeds, even if extrusion seems fine at slower speeds. You might hear clicking or grinding sounds from the extruder during fast print moves.
Solution: Understanding Volumetric Flow Rate
Symptoms: Small features appear melted or deformed; parts exhibit poor layer adhesion (weak Z-strength) or split between layers; parts printed simultaneously are weaker than parts printed sequentially; overhangs or bridges sag excessively or look messy; parts printed with high-temp materials are unexpectedly weak (check fan usage).
Solution: Optimizing Layer Times & Cooling
Symptoms: Prints exhibit excessively visible layer lines, poor surface finish on slopes or top surfaces, gaps between lines, weak layer adhesion causing parts to break easily between layers, dimensional inaccuracies, poor detail resolution, or suboptimal print times (either too long for required quality or too fast resulting in poor quality). Overhangs or bridging performance might also be affected.
Solution: Optimizing Layer Height and Line Width
Symptoms: Parts lack expected strength despite high infill settings; prints take excessively long or consume large amounts of material relative to the strength achieved; parts exhibit significant warping (especially with high-temp materials like PEEK/ULTEM) when printed with very high infill density; prints feel unexpectedly heavy or light. Users may be attempting 100% infill without considering shell thickness.
Solution: Print Strength Explained: Why Shells Often Beat High Infill
Symptoms: Frequent clogging (especially with filled materials or small diameters), under-extrusion despite correct temperature (check compensation for steel), poor detail or excessive print time mismatching expectations, auto-calibration failure (check nozzle conductivity), or rapid nozzle wear (check material compatibility with abrasives).
Solution: Understanding Nozzles: Materials and Diameters
Symptoms: Parts exhibit excessive warping or lifting from the build plate, poor layer adhesion resulting in weak/brittle parts, or significant sagging/deformation on overhangs, especially with high-temperature materials. Print quality issues may vary significantly depending on the material's Glass Transition Temperature (Tg) relative to the set temperatures.
Solution: Understanding Chamber & Bed Temperature
Symptoms: Corners are excessively rounded or bulging/overshooting. The seam (where each layer starts/stops) bulges significantly outward or shows a noticeable gap/indentation.
Solution: Pressure Advance Calibration and Adjustment
Symptoms: Prints exhibit thin/weak walls, noticeable gaps between lines (especially on top solid surfaces), or a generally flimsy/sparse appearance. Consider checking nozzle temperature, flow rate/extrusion multiplier, ensuring the filament is dry, verifying extruder lever tension, and checking for clogs or obstructions in the filament path.
Solution: Troubleshooting Under-Extrusion
Symptoms: Parts delaminate or split easily between layers, resulting in weak or brittle prints. Layers may appear distinct rather than fused, and the part may break cleanly along layer lines when stressed. This is often exacerbated by insufficient heat during the printing process or excessive cooling.
Solution: Troubleshooting Poor Layer Adhesion