Many 3D printing issues can have purely visual effects that can potentially be overlooked if the effect isn’t too bad. This is not the case for warping effects. In 3D printing, warping is where the bottom of a print starts to curl up at the edges.
While this can be a relatively minor issue, it can have catastrophic results for your print if it gets too bad. Your print pops off the print bed mid-print and shifts or even topples.
How to Fix Bottom of the Print Warping – 3D Printing
Print bowing is a serious issue but one that can generally be easily resolved as an adhesion issue. The first thing to check is the temperature of the print bed, as odd as this sounds. Bowing happens because as the printed plastic cools, it shrinks.
By increasing the print bed temperature, you can keep the base of the print hot. Letting it cool slower and adding more weight and structure to keep it in place as it cools. You should increase the print bed temperature in 5-degree increments, making sure not to raise it above the glass transition temperature of the filament you’re using.
Keep It Cool
If you’re struggling with warping even after raising your print bed temperature, you may want to check your cooling fan speeds. By reducing the speed of the cooling fans, you can reduce their cooling effect. Therefore, keep the print warmer for longer.
Some slicers even allow you to configure a separate fan speed for the first few layers so you can reduce the cooling for the base of your print and keep cooling the rest of your print more effectively.
Increasing the contact area with the print bed through the use of a float or brim can also help your prints stay in their proper place. A float is a full layer of printed material with a much wider base upon which your print sits. In contrast, a brim is simply a wider base that touches the edge of the print, making it significantly easier to remove.
There are multiple types of print beds that you can use that offer different characteristics. A textured print bed such as frosted glass can provide a lot more surface area and better adhesion in the same area as a smooth glass plate. You can also experiment with adding glue, PEI sheets, or painters’ tape for different surfaces. However, some of these can’t be heated.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these tips help you to resolve any print warping issues you may be facing. If you have any other tips to share, please let us know down below.
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