3D PrintingTips & Tricks 2

REMOVING A PART FROM YOUR PRINT BED
Problem: “I can’t remove my part from the build platform.”
Sometimes, a part can be stuck to the print surface really well and you’re unable to get good leverage to pop it off.  When printing a pyramid shape, it’s even difficult to get at it with conventional tools.  Here are a few tips:

• Bring the temperature of the heat bed up (or down) to about 60C for ABS.
• Wrap the jaws of a pair pliers with a rag and try to get some leverage somewhere on your part.
• Wrap the end of a chisel with some tape and carefully work at a corner of your part.  The tape just protects your Kapton or other printing surface from getting scratched.

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COMBAT WARPING WITH PADS
Sometimes, when you’re printing a large flat object, such as a simple box container, or a very long thin feature, like a stick, you may see warping at the corners or extremities.  One trick is to add little pads to your part where the warping would occur.  These can be any size & shape you’d like, but generally, diameter 10mm cylinders that are 1-2 layers thick work well. After the part is printed, just trim them off.  Here are two techniques to add pads to your part:

1. Add pads to your 3D data.  Use this method if you plan on printing several parts over time.
2. Add pads to your part in Repetier (or your GUI of choice).  This is a great trick (thanks Charles H.!) for quickly adding pads to parts that you might not be able to easily modify (i.e. STL files, SCAD files, etc.).  Just create a pad shape in your CAD package of choice, save as an STL, and add it to your build tray.  Quickly add as many as you want and easily move them around!

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WELCOME 3D Printing Tips & Tricks
This section will be continually populated with tips & tricks geared towards the beginner 3D printer.  Please check back often for updates!
Also, check out Reprap Forums for tons of great information:
http://forums.reprap.org/
Have a great tip you’d like to share?  Find a mistake on this page?  Please send us a comment!