Hi all,

My daugther asked me to print Elsa's tiara (Frozen) I found on Thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:244821). I calibrated my printer as good as I could: E-steps, Extruder multiplier (Slic3r), bed level, etc. The print (picture) looks good up to the point where this middle part which has an angle starts printing. What I find interesting is the fact that the triangles on the edges are relatively ok and do not show any issue.

Any insigth on what the problem could be would be much appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Maybe those 2 "quarter moon" bits are less than 45 degrees initially causing it to print in mid air a little.

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Waitaki 3D Printer

See those wavy bits on the bed on the right-hand side of the photo? They mean your bed isn't level and the print is starting too far above the bed surface (but that's got nothing to do with your problem).

See all the strings on your print? Increase your retraction length and you'll get rid of those. It also looks like your belts are a bit loose. You may also be over-extruding a bit.

If you're printing in PLA, can you direct a fan at the print to cool it?

Nice touch with the cooling tower.

Thank you both for your insigths. Bed level is a nigthmare on my setup, as I have to check it out before each print and sometimes I forget... I will address these issues, thanks!

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Hauser
Thank you both for your insights. Bed level is a nightmare on my setup, as I have to check it out before each print and sometimes I forget... I will address these issues, thanks!

Make sure your z nuts are seated all the way in their traps. If you have extra material (like extra strings of plastic from printing the over hang) at the bottom of the trap, get that all cleaned out. Make sure your nuts aren't too small for the traps allowing the to rotate inside the trap.

I'm assuming you have a heated bed or other print surface suspend above your y axis. If you are using standoffs for that, try some stiff springs instead. This helps keep the nuts tight and absorbs some shock if you crash your print head into the bed. You could also try using lock nuts here to help.

Spend some time watching your printer's z motors and make sure they aren't skipping steps. Just one could be doing it without the other. Usually caused by poor wire connections to the motor or binding in the axis. You can power down the motors and move them both by hand at the same time to make sure their isn't binding, however you will need to re level the z axis after this because it's near impossible to move them both the same amount by hand.

Those things solved my issue of having to level the bed all the time.

A note on over extruding, it seems to me that filaments for different manufactures have different viscosities at the same temperature. Figure out which temperature and extrusion multiplier provide the best looking and most dimensionally accurate results and either stick with that manufacturer or plan to fiddle with these two setting every time you get a new roll from a different manufacturer.