Good and bad 3D printing practices?

[Simple Jack]

Hello everyone.

 

What are some good habits for 3D printing? Can you guys tell me how good (or bad!) the practices I have now are? I've only begun 3D printing for less than a year and I am having a blast. I can see myself going at this hobby for a long time and I'd like to make sure I'm starting and keeping good habits. Some of what I believe to be my more important current practices for 3D printing are:

 

Before Printing

1. Preheat the bed and nozzle to desired temperatures before printing. I don't believe this is necessary because the G-code will dictate the bed and nozzle temperature and will automatically heat it up as such. My printer, Anycubic Cobra Max, likes to count the time that the bed and nozzle are heating up as additional print time. Yeah it's hardly a few minutes but I like to be a little bit more precise as to the actual print time.

2. Make sure I have a clean nozzle and print bed. I print with PETG often and the nozzle gets gunked up. I'm sure someone here will tell me I'm doing something wrong while printing PETG and that my nozzle isn't supposed to get gunked up. I'm still pretty new to PETG so I'll heat up the nozzle before prints and do a quick double check to make sure there's no excess printing material gathered there. If there is any, I'll take the silicone sock off, give it a gentle brass brushing, and continue with the print.

3. Run the auto leveling feature before prints. I'm sure this isn't necessary to run EVERY time before I print but, in my mind, it's free insurance that I have a level bed and that my first few layers will be secured. For an extra few minutes before every print, I can definitely tell myself that I have a level bed.

During Printing

1. Occasionally actually look at the print progress. Some of my prints run for several hours, even days. I like to keep an eye on it every few hours or at the end of my work day. I don't want ignore a print entirely and come back to a spaghetti monster.

2. Snip off any material that may affect nozzle path. I have been printing with PETG a lot lately. As far as I know, it's very hygroscopic. If the spool isn't properly stored, it'll accumulate moisture and it'll impact your prints. Because of my prior lack of knowledge of PETG's hygroscopic nature, I stored my spools wrong and I'm getting bad prints that I need to fix mid-print. I'm still trying to figure out a good solution to storing my PETG spools.

3. Keep my filament dryer running and print with the filament directly out of it. This is mainly for my PETG printing practices. When I was printing with PLA or PLA+, I didn't see much of a need for a filament dryer. A lot of my PLA prints came out nicely regardless of the spool's condition. When I decided to try my hand at PETG, that's when I needed to be more cognizant of the condition of my spools. Now I let my spools sit in a running filament dryer for at least a few hours before I print, print with the filament running out of it, and keep it running as the print continues.

After Printing

1. Heat the nozzle up and make sure it's clean. I'm sure I need to more effectively dial in my print settings for PETG. It always gunks up my nozzle so I heat up my nozzle and remove any excess material at the end of prints.

2. Clean up the print bed. I use glue stick to protect my glass bed from the strong, adhesive properties of PETG to glass. I'll give it a quick wash with dish soap and water, wipe it dry with a microfiber, and remount my freshly cleaned glass bed back on my printer.

3. Remove the filament and store it back in the running filament dryer. Once I am done with a print and don't need to print anymore, I'll run the filament retraction on my printer. I'll take out the excess line, snip off the used end that came from the nozzle, and rewind it back to store in my filament dryer. If my filament dryer is running at the time, I'll let it run until the timer I set on it runs out and it turns off on its own. I'll also throw in a small bag of desiccant in there for any extra moisture. I think my biggest question here is, how bad is it to do a cold pull EVERY time you're removing filament?

 

Please and thank you for all your help and answers!

[tikker]

19 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

Preheat the bed and nozzle to desired temperatures before printing. I don't believe this is necessary because the G-code will dictate the bed and nozzle temperature and will automatically heat it up as such. My printer, Anycubic Cobra Max, likes to count the time that the bed and nozzle are heating up as additional print time. Yeah it's hardly a few minutes but I like to be a little bit more precise as to the actual print time.

At least for the bed I like having it on before so the glass can thoroughly warm through. Aside form that it's just preference/habit. I turn on the printer to heat up and then go slice stuff.

12 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

Run the auto leveling feature before prints. I'm sure this isn't necessary to run EVERY time before I print but, in my mind, it's free insurance that I have a level bed and that my first few layers will be secured. For an extra few minutes before every print, I can definitely tell myself that I have a level bed.

Just a note that auto-leveling should not be seen as a replacement for proper tramming. You should tram the bed well with the physical screws first and let auto level take care of the final inaccuracies. Also technically we tram our printers and not level them, since we attempt to align the print head and the bed with each other / w.r.t. the frame, and not to get the bed actually level w.r.t. to the ground. I think it's a good habit to let it run regularly. Maybe every print is overkill if you do multiple back-to-back prints, but if you take off the bed or if there are temperature fluctuations from hot to cold the material can work which can affect the bed tramming.

18 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

Clean up the print bed. I use glue stick to protect my glass bed from the strong, adhesive properties of PETG to glass. I'll give it a quick wash with dish soap and water, wipe it dry with a microfiber, and remount my freshly cleaned glass bed back on my printer.

Have you looked at removable print beds? I don't use PETG, so I'm not up to date if it bites into that as much as it does into glass, but it might save on glue stick and washing.

[Imbadatnames]

37 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

 

 

Before Printing

Preheat the bed and nozzle to desired temperatures before printing. I don't believe this is necessary because the G-code will dictate the bed and nozzle temperature and will automatically heat it up as such. My printer, Anycubic Cobra Max, likes to count the time that the bed and nozzle are heating up as additional print time. Yeah it's hardly a few minutes but I like to be a little bit more precise as to the actual print time

No. This can cause material to burn and cause blockages. 

37 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

Make sure I have a clean nozzle and print bed. I print with PETG often and the nozzle gets gunked up. I'm sure someone here will tell me I'm doing something wrong while printing PETG and that my nozzle isn't supposed to get gunked up. I'm still pretty new to PETG so I'll heat up the nozzle before prints and do a quick double check to make sure there's no excess printing material gathered there. If there is any, I'll take the silicone sock off, give it a gentle brass brushing, and continue with the print.

Pre heating is likely the issue of this. Also you should use hardened steel heads with more abrasive materials like PETG. 

37 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

Run the auto leveling feature before prints. I'm sure this isn't necessary to run EVERY time before I print but, in my mind, it's free insurance that I have a level bed and that my first few layers will be secured. For an extra few minutes before every print, I can definitely tell myself that I have a level bed.

You can run a test print on each corner and the centre to tell if the bed is level and what adjustments need to be made. 

37 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

Snip off any material that may affect nozzle path. I have been printing with PETG a lot lately. As far as I know, it's very hygroscopic. If the spool isn't properly stored, it'll accumulate moisture and it'll impact your prints. Because of my prior lack of knowledge of PETG's hygroscopic nature, I stored my spools wrong and I'm getting bad prints that I need to fix mid-print. I'm still trying to figure out a good solution to storing my PETG spools.

PETG isn’t that bad. Just don’t leave it out forever and put it in a sealed bag when not in use. It’s not exactly Nylon which really should be kept in its own little house filled with desiccant as soon as it’s been removed from its packaging.

37 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

1. Keep my filament dryer running and print with the filament directly out of it. This is mainly for my PETG printing practices. When I was printing with PLA or PLA+, I didn't see much of a need for a filament dryer. A lot of my PLA prints came out nicely regardless of the spool's condition. When I decided to try my hand at PETG, that's when I needed to be more cognizant of the condition of my spools. Now I let my spools sit in a running filament dryer for at least a few hours before I print, print with the filament running out of it, and keep it running as the print continues.

After Printing

Heat the nozzle up and make sure it's clean. I'm sure I need to more effectively dial in my print settings for PETG. It always gunks up my nozzle so I heat up my nozzle and remove any excess material at the end of prints.

Agin preheating is likely the issue of your blockages with PETG. 

37 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

Clean up the print bed. I use glue stick to protect my glass bed from the strong, adhesive properties of PETG to glass. I'll give it a quick wash with dish soap and water, wipe it dry with a microfiber, and remount my freshly cleaned glass bed back on my printer.

With the correct settings you shouldn’t need glue for PETG on a glass bed. 

37 minutes ago, Simple Jack said:

1. Remove the filament and store it back in the running filament dryer. Once I am done with a print and don't need to print anymore, I'll run the filament retraction on my printer. I'll take out the excess line, snip off the used end that came from the nozzle, and rewind it back to store in my filament dryer. If my filament dryer is running at the time, I'll let it run until the timer I set on it runs out and it turns off on its own. I'll also throw in a small bag of desiccant in there for any extra moisture. I think my biggest question here is, how bad is it to do a cold pull EVERY time you're removing filament?

 

Please and thank you for all your help and answers!

 

If you’re changing Nozzles do it hot. 

[Simple Jack]

4 hours ago, Imbadatnames said:

No. This can cause material to burn and cause blockages. 

Pre heating is likely the issue of this. Also you should use hardened steel heads with more abrasive materials like PETG. 

You can run a test print on each corner and the centre to tell if the bed is level and what adjustments need to be made. 

PETG isn’t that bad. Just don’t leave it out forever and put it in a sealed bag when not in use. It’s not exactly Nylon which really should be kept in its own little house filled with desiccant as soon as it’s been removed from its packaging.

Agin preheating is likely the issue of your blockages with PETG. 

With the correct settings you shouldn’t need glue for PETG on a glass bed. 

 

If you’re changing Nozzles do it hot. 

What settings/parameters would you recommend or suggest for consideration when printing with PETG? I know that nozzles must be changed out hot because of the properties of the expansion of metal to varying degrees in the hot end. I've only done some light research but I think it's referred to as a "heat break". I haven't tried it but what happens if you do a nozzle change cold?

4 hours ago, tikker said:

At least for the bed I like having it on before so the glass can thoroughly warm through. Aside form that it's just preference/habit. I turn on the printer to heat up and then go slice stuff.

Just a note that auto-leveling should not be seen as a replacement for proper tramming. You should tram the bed well with the physical screws first and let auto level take care of the final inaccuracies. Also technically we tram our printers and not level them, since we attempt to align the print head and the bed with each other / w.r.t. the frame, and not to get the bed actually level w.r.t. to the ground. I think it's a good habit to let it run regularly. Maybe every print is overkill if you do multiple back-to-back prints, but if you take off the bed or if there are temperature fluctuations from hot to cold the material can work which can affect the bed tramming.

Have you looked at removable print beds? I don't use PETG, so I'm not up to date if it bites into that as much as it does into glass, but it might save on glue stick and washing.

I agree with your thought process of tramming. Auto leveling is, in my opinion, a very luxurious feature. It's one of the larger reasons why I decided to go with the Kobra Max. However, the Kobra Max doesn't have the bed level adjusting wheels you speak of. Bed leveling is all automated, kind of set-and-forget style. I wanted to 3D print as a hobby and for fun. I didn't want to deal with the inconvenience and fuss of adjusting knobs repeatedly and trying to get the perfect first layer. I more so wanted to slice something, send the g-code to my printer, and just have it begin print away with minimal concern to leveling, first layers, and adhesion. I have looked at removable print beds, yeah. I haven't found one that effectively fits the 40cm squared surface area of the Kobra Max. I have considered a smaller and removable print bed, putting it smack dab in the middle of my bed (secured of course), and having the nozzle print on that with a Z-offset for it. On paper it sounds good but I don't believe it will work in practice. I haven't tried though.

[Imbadatnames]

4 hours ago, Simple Jack said:

What settings/parameters would you recommend or suggest for consideration when printing with PETG? I know that nozzles must be changed out hot because of the properties of the expansion of metal to varying degrees in the hot end. I've only done some light research but I think it's referred to as a "heat break". I haven't tried it but what happens if you do a nozzle change cold?

Depends on the printer, 230-240 temp with a 60-70 degree bed temp depending on how close to the edge of the build plate you’re going. Generally a raft is useful for your PETG, ABS, PC and Nylon to stop them peeling up. A wipe tower is useful too as is PVA supports for cavities and finish if your printer supports dual extruders though it is tricky to get dialled in. Quality material matters too, going to ultimaker or Raise3D filament from Amazon basics for example is a  massive jump. It’s just one of those things you have to tune yourself though, print speed, retraction, ooze etc all play a part in a good quality print.

 

Swapping then cold increases the risk of just shearing the nozzle, on the hobby grade side I like the ultimakers because I’m lazy and you just swap the whole print core. 

4 hours ago, Simple Jack said:

I agree with your thought process of tramming. Auto leveling is, in my opinion, a very luxurious feature. It's one of the larger reasons why I decided to go with the Kobra Max. However, the Kobra Max doesn't have the bed level adjusting wheels you speak of. Bed leveling is all automated, kind of set-and-forget style. I wanted to 3D print as a hobby and for fun. I didn't want to deal with the inconvenience and fuss of adjusting knobs repeatedly and trying to get the perfect first layer. I more so wanted to slice something, send the g-code to my printer, and just have it begin print away with minimal concern to leveling, first layers, and adhesion. I have looked at removable print beds, yeah. I haven't found one that effectively fits the 40cm squared surface area of the Kobra Max. I have considered a smaller and removable print bed, putting it smack dab in the middle of my bed (secured of course), and having the nozzle print on that with a Z-offset for it. On paper it sounds good but I don't believe it will work in practice. I haven't tried though.

Auto levelling is good, especially when you’re into your industry grade and high end hobby printers but unless it’s on your industry standard ones checking it is actually level is always useful. 
 

You can make your own through CAD, fusion 360 is free for personal use and there’s free tiers of Shapr3D and Onshape the latter of which is cloud based if your PC struggles.