Have your prints been failing mid print every time? Here is a list of problems and their solutions that might fix your issues. If you have any questions or things that you think that I should add to the post please let me know in the comments section and tag me.

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PROBLEM: Prints not sticking to the bed/model coming undone mid print.

SOLUTION: This is an issue with your printers build plate adhesion or the hotend being too far from the build plate, try moving the build plate temperature to around 85c if you are printing with Petg and about 75c for pla. If this doesn’t fix it then get a glue stick (any regular glue stick will work, even the super cheap ones) and apply it on the build plate, it will apply better if the build plate is heated to 50c or more. Both of these options will work on glass and the pei build plates. Try releveling your printers bed as well because the extruder may be too close/too far away from the bed which would also cause these issues, to fix this try making your extruder 0.05mm closer to the bed (it shows up as -0.05mm which is closer to the bed not further) this can be found in the leveling menu for printers with bl touch and might also be in printers without auto leveling. If it is in a printer, for example the ender 3 it might be under z offset or z babystep.

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PROBLEM: Your model has strings all over it after printing and looks really bad. For example: the black benchy in the picture below shows how it can look if your settings are messed up. The multicolor one shows how it is supposed to look when your printer is more calibrated (there is still room for improvement).

SOLUTION: Go to your slicer and search for retraction, if it is disabled then enable it. You also might want to calibrate the temperature as well since it will also cause stringing if it is too hot. There are numerous retraction and temperature tests that you can print and I will attach one of each at the end of this section.

To calibrate your retraction settings slowly start increasing the distanceof the retractions, for my direct drive printer it is 3mm length retractions and 40mm/s speed. When changing the distance make sure that you only go up a tiny bit 0.2mm at a time so that way you can get a closer estimation of what it needs to be. For the speed you want it fast enough to be able to get the filament in and out of the extruder with less time for oozing, I recommend for direct drive printers around 35-55mm/s. You will want to use the model provided as it provides a good way to see how the settings are affecting the printed object, benchy’s are also a very good test.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2080224

To calibrate the retraction settings for a bowden printer for example the stock ender 3, you will do all of the steps mentioned above. You will need a larger retraction distance (around 6-8mm) and It will probably need a slightly slower retraction speed (25-40mm/s) because higher speeds tend to grind away the filament and make your print fail, also the longer the retraction distance the higher chance that your printer will make the grind away and make the print fail.

To calibrate the temperature it is the same for both bowden and direct drive printers. You will first need to download the model and put it into your slicer. Some slicers have an option where your printer can change temperature depending on the layer height, if you have a slicer that supports that feature then use it. If your slicer doesn't have this feature then you will need to change the temperature while the printer is printing, this is more time consuming since you will have to be watching your printer for several hours. You will need to change the temperature every time a box in the tower has been completed. Use the temperature tower that is named after your filament as each one is a different range of temperature. Also take a look at what the manufacturer recommends for your filament and go by that instead of what is on the towers.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2729076

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PROBLEM: Your printer is leaving holes in the model due to under extrusion. Or your printer is leaving large globs of plastic on the outside of your model due to over extrusion.

SOLUTION: You need to calculate your esteps. To calculate your esteps tell your mark your filament 100mm away from the extruder entrance and make a mark 10mm after that one. Tell your printer to extrude 100mm’s of filament. If it is under extruding, measure the filament from the first line to the extruder. If it is over extruding, measure the filament from the 2nd line to the extruder. After taking the measurements put the numbers into the estep calculator at the bottom of this section. For taking measurements from the first line subtract your number from 100 which would be written as (100-x). For taking measurements from the 2nd line subtract your number from 110 this can be expressed as (110-x). Put the amount extruded into the calculator and if your printer has a way to see the esteps via the display take the number and also put it in the calculator. If your printer doesn’t have this feature then you might be able to send a code via cura or pronterface through the gcode section to see the number. Once you have all the numbers in the calculator you will see the estep value to change on your machine and you will also see the serial command option to change it through cura or through pronterface.

https://support.th3dstudio.com/estep-calculator/

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PROBLEM: No filament/very restricted amounts of filament are able to get out of the extruder even when the extruder is far away from the build plate.

SOLUTION: Check your extruder tensioner arm to make sure that it isn’t too loose or too tight otherwise it will not work right. However,if it still doesn’t work after this, your extruder is probably clogged and may be able to be fixed with one of the metal needles that should have come with your printer. If it is a serious clog you may just want to replace the nozzle. If it still doesn’t work your extruder could have a jam somewhere inside the hotend. This will either need to be completely taken apart or replaced depending on how bad it is.

Common Problems and Solutions