Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
Hi! I just got my MK4, my first 3D printer ever, yesterday and have been having a blast printing stuff. Everything is coming out great except for this 215mm tall, 3/4" round dowel. My friend said just use wood haha, but I learn by failing.
The dowel prints almost perfectly except for a ring of missing walls. The first print was about 55% up the dowel (printed vertically) and the second was 80% up. The second one was easy to snap at the joint.
This is someone else's STL and I changed it to have 50% infill and 5 walls. The rest of it is a baton, it is so strong.
I am using prusament galaxy black (it is for a vision pro stand!) and I realize I had it on generic PLA (my other PLA is elegoo, just trying stuff)
The issue looks like this:
Thanks for any ideas!
Steve
RE: Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
Idk, maybe the filament jammed for a bit.
Also, they would be stronger if you printed them lying down (with a flat section on the side for printability)
RE: Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks! How do I prevent filament hanging up on a multiple hour print?
my friend suggested printing two halves and gluing them together.
RE: Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
Hi Steveriggins,
some filament rolls like prusament, have artifacts on the edges of the roll which can snag filament, Using a filament guide to prevent the filament dragging on the edge of the roll can prevent snagging.
other than this you need to find out why the filament is snagging and resolve the issue.
many people use a reverse bowden feed to stop the side to side motion of the X axis pulling on the filament spool towards the end of travel
have a look at this video,
you can skip the first 6 minutes...
regards Joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
RE: Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
Welcome to the Prusa 3D printing community!
Generally 3D printers are not good at printing tall thin stuff, but a 3/4" diameter isn't really considered thin in my opinion so that's probably not the issue. (I'd say like less than 3 mm diameter would be considered thin.)
Having the wrong filament preset in the slicer could actually be the source of this specific problem, although I'm a bit skeptical. The filament presets contain things like "retraction length" where a too high retraction length could contribute to a jam / clog. But I would highly recommend just using the Prusament presets that are in the Prusa Slicer since in my experience those settings are near-perfect.
I agree with the other user that printing them laying down would result in a significantly stronger print. Prints usually fail between layers, not along layers. The strength difference depending on which orientation they're printed in could be up to around a factor of 10x, so a huge difference. However, printing a round thing laying down is not optimal either, since you'd either have to have supports all the way (which need to be removed) or perhaps print a hexagon with small round areas (so less supports have to be removed).
- Generally: Trying to 3D print geometries that weren't designed from the start to be 3D printed can sometimes be great and easy, sometimes be pretty cumbersome.
I wish I could help more with this specific problem though.
RE: Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks! I had just found the filament guide in the box haha oops. I am going to try another one with the guide just for kicks.
RE: Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks! I am so excited!
this dowel does not need to be terribly strong, it’s holding up a several pound Vision Pro.
the dowel area without the defect is so strong, I stepped on it on an angle and it did not budge.
I have installed the filament guide and will see if that helps, in addition to using the prusament preset.
RE: Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
Best wishes.
Joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
RE: Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
This is a new printer. Could it be this is the first time you print something so high above the bed? Maybe add some lube on the Z-axis guides and screw and direct the X-axis drive up and down a bit to spread the lube. If it was a kit check the screws that hold the motors. They should be just tight enough to hold the motors, so the rubber discs can do their work. Too tight screws may jam the motors.
RE: Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks! It is a factory assembled printer.
i got a successful print after installing the filament guide, which I had not seen in the box nor the manual, so I think the filament dragging on the sides of the spool might have caused this?
RE: Two failed dowels. I am BRAND new at 3D Printing. Am I doing something wrong?
Success!
Joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK