What is happening with this print?

Can anyone provide some ideas as to why this is happening? The print is ok until it gets to the ears. I'm guessing it is something to do with it going too fast and applying too much heat?

...only my third day printing so apologies if it is a daft question!

too fas tspeed maybe

U need to set a minimum layer time. Its a setteing in slicer. Ur not giving those top layers enogh time to harden.

It's not a daft question. Almost everyone eventually runs into this problem.

You got the cause right: the ears don't have enough time to cool before each successive layer is laid down, hence the melty look. You've got three basic options: install active cooling (a fan pointed at the nozzle), print a cooling tower (just needs to be an additional object as tall as the print but far enough away for the head travel time to allow layers to cool) or rely on your slicing software's cooling settings.

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[3DKarma.com] - suppliers of quality, affordable 3D printer kits and filament for the UK market.

3dKarma summed it up pretty well. I just want to add that one of the slicer's cooling settings is control over the fan; the fan speed increases as the layer time goes down.

Also, don't overlook the usefulness of a cooling tower. It might waste plastic, but the slicer strategies can only go so far. If you slow down too much, then even though the print might be neat, there can be an observable difference (shininess, etc) of those layers.

Finally, along the lines of a cooling tower - print multiple copies of your object. You get the same effects of a cooling tower, but you also get a second chance at getting a good result.

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll have a play!

I haven't really delved into slic3r at all yet as I've been printing from Cura after downloading the stl files from thingiverse.

@3dKarma - The printer I bought (2nd hand) looks like a Prusa but the extruder is mounted at 90 degrees to the one pictured on your website. I assume its either been upgraded (or made worse with a bad upgrade?) at some point. Any advice? Is this a good setup or should I print the parts from your version to get better results?