I came across a really clever idea today for minimizing warping on a large flat surface. The modeller made the first two layers into a series of bridges, which seems to let the plastic shrink and stretch a bit, also preventing some possible blobbing.
At least I assume that’s what’s going on here. I’ve never seen it before, but it printed great without curling or warping.
I’ve also picked up some looser ideas. Things like:
- Adding a 0.02 tolerance to interlocking part will help parts fit together. Adding small chamfers to edges will also help
- 3 shells helps give a nice, smooth surface
- Orienting parts on the bed so that layers are perpendicular to stress can prevents layers from delaminating in functional parts
- Orienting parts such that fine details are vertical will help things look prettier
- Add slight chamfers on the underside of overhangs can help minimize or even eliminate the need for supports
- Create inset holes with this method to eliminate the need for supports. This also works with other shapes
What other modelling tricks have you seen?
When modelling, keeping all features of size larger than 3x your nozzle size, and adding fillets of 1-1.5x nozzle size to all sharp corners, really helps the slicer create clean edges. Modelling carelessly and letting features chamfer/fillet down to zero thickness geometry doesn’t always translate to the slicer well.
Warpage/peeling from the bed is usually an adhesive, temp setting, or environment problem more than anything.
