3D Printing Procedures
Additive manufacturing is not as simple as printing ink on paper. Changing a single value in a set of more than a hundred free parameters can turn a beautiful design into a stringy ball or a warped lump of junk. To get things right, be consistent in your procedure by following these instructions every time.
Before Printing
Inspect the printer. Verify that all wiring and parts are properly connected. Look for any parts that may be broken. Clean the machine of any dust or debris.
Remove the print bed from the machine by turning the front side clips and grasping it on both sides and gently sliding it forward while lifting it. Carry it to the sink. Clean the print bed with soap and water, then dry it with a paper towel.
(Optional) Apply several even layers of adhesive to the print bed, allowing time to dry between each addition.
Replace the print bed on the machine and lock down the clips to hold it in place.
Use the manual temperature setting to warm the print bed to its printing temperature (depends on the material type).
While its hot, perform tramming, also called leveling, of the bed by measuring the bed height and adjusting the dials on the four corners and remeasuring until the measurements are all as close to zero as possible.
Inspect the print head and remove any debris.
Adjust the z = 0 (home) height of the print head by moving it to home then pushing the plus or minus z until the print head is where you want it. It should be higher than the print bed but close enough to drag on a card that is inserted and removed.
Manually heat the print head to the temperature required for printing (depends on the material type). Be sure to select the same type of material that was specified in the slicer program.
When the print head is hot, place a spool of filament on the spool holder and carefully feed the filament into the machine while pressing the release lever. Continue feeding the filament until it begins to extrude cleanly from the print head. Remove the extruded filament with tweezers.
Record information about your print job.
Select the file to print and push start.
While Printing
Do not touch the printer!
Do not touch the printer table!
If the print head makes contact with the print bed, if there is mechanical grinding noises, or anything else obviously wrong, stop the print job immediately and ask for assistance.
Monitor the print job. Attempt to trouble shoot anything that is going wrong. If the job is failing, cancel the print. If necessary, some adjustments can be made during the print. See trouble shooting for more advice.
If the printer runs out of filament or the filament breaks off, the printer should stop automatically and park the head off to one side. Replace the filament spool and feed it into the printer until it begins to extrude cleanly. Remove any debris with tweezers. Resume the print job.
After Printing
Wait for the print bed to cool completely before removing the print out.
When the bed is cool, the print out can be removed with the assistance of a scraper. Slide the scraper under the print out while gently tugging the object to one side. Remove any debris from the print bed.
Examine the print job and record the results.
Clean any scaffolding or flaws from the print out.
If the print job failed, examine the results, troubleshoot the problem, record your observations, and try something different.
If nothing else is going to be printed, remove the filament by heating the print head, holding the release lever, and carefully drawing the filament out. Place the spool into a bag for storage.
Turn off the printer.