You're new to 3D printing and you buy your very first 3D printer, a Creality K1. Eager to get started, you load up Orca Slicer and start everyone's first print, the 3D Printer Benchy – a little sailboat that represents the expertise of the 3D printer operator. However, your beginner status is quickly revealed by the little flaws in the form of pock marks, under extruded layers, and a layer shift in the whole top half of the print. Disappointed by your first print, you think “Now what? What can I do to create a flawless benchy?”
The answer is a whole lot, but before you delve into the 3D printing rabbit hole – the Meyer Briggs ISTP tinkerers’ wet dream – here are a few words of advice:
1. First off… Start slow.
Since I started 3D printing, I've gone full tilt, learning everything I can as fast as I can. Going full tilt also meant that I began my 3D printing adventure with the ultimate budget printer, the Sovol SV06 – bought less than a month before the SV06 Plus was released, but because I was too quick with burning the box, it made an exchange impossible. Thus I continued with the original SV06.
During my first few prints, I became unsatisfied with the slow poke speed of the printer, and made it my mission to speed run my prints. There was only so much I could do with adjusting the settings. I looked into the best way to optimize my printer for speed and then quality. Through my speed running journey, I've made plenty of early mistakes and spent a lot of money on unnecessary parts.
As a beginner, there's a lot to learn with 3D printing, and you can't just Leeroy Jenkins your way into it. Well… you can, but that may mean creating more problems than you had originally. So my first piece of advice is to start slow and take your time learning what you are working with, what is the purpose of each printer part, and how to identify specific problems and resolve them. You'll need to solve each problem one at a time, eventually arriving at the solution. It's a game of Guess Who? to identify the root of the problem before creating any new ones. Start slow, and you won't burn any boxes that you need for returns.
2. Don't cheap out on filament.
My second piece of advice is to not cheap out on filament. Filament makes a world of a difference and don't let anyone convince you otherwise. It is often what will make a difference between a quality print and a shoddy one. Filament behaves differently in between brands, material, and even environment. For example, PLA (the standard filament) will behave differently from brand to brand, and then you can't compare the quality of printed PLA to a different material such as ABS. It goes deeper than that. Within each type, there are subtypes. In our shop, we offer two types of ABS filament from Phaetus: aeCoating™ NexABS-GF25 and aeWorthy™ ABS-GF. Each has their own advantages and characteristics.
Additionally, how “dry” a filament is affects how the filament layers will adhere to itself. In this case, wetter is not better. Wetter filaments will have poor adhesion and could cause messy layers or filament spaghetti. To avoid these problems, a filament dehydrator, especially if you live in a humid climate, is a key investment. Again, filament matters.
3. And lastly… Print quality is directly related to build quality.
From my experience, some of the budget printers come with either faulty or inefficient parts. Luckily, there are a few companies that devote themselves to engineering quality 3D printer parts. I've spent anywhere from ten to hundreds of dollars buying upgrades to my printers for any improvement in print quality. I've taken apart my printers and put them back together countless times, replacing each part that I deemed inefficient.
During this tinkering process, I've learned all about what works for my printers and what doesn't, such as picking the right nozzle to adjust the flow of the print or choosing which motors have enough power to allow for speedy prints. Since I've been finely tuning my printers with quality parts from places like Phaetus or Triangle-Lab, my printer stability, print speed and quality has improved immensely – evidenced by the smoothness of my final prints. Each upgraded part works together in cohesion to create prints that exhibit smooth perfection rather thann wonky layer lines.
At PeeDee3D, these tips serve as a basis for what drives our inventory – Quality 3D printer parts that will help bring your printers to optimization. Each item in our store has been specifically chosen to solve a need that I have personally experienced, or researched. However, admittedly we don't know it all! If you think we are missing something we should carry, let us know! And finally – what tips would you add to this list? Do you agree with us or disagree? Let us know in the comments. :)
Happy Printing!
PeeDee3D