Well the picture says it all – fail! As mentioned in an earlier post, I’m playing around with a truncated octahedron structure. I put this 3D print on at uni (Up! Plus 2 printer) late yesterday afternoon with a 13.5 hour print time, expecting to find it all nicely completed this morning. For those using 3D printers regularly like me, failure quickly becomes part of the norm (I feel like somewhere around 1 in 5 have some sort of error – what do you think?).
Looks like there were 2 failures; firstly the small pieces meant to be around the rectangle section in the middle haven’t stuck to the plate properly, causing some ‘fairy-flossing’. Secondly, after running the print again, looks like the extruder is clogged or dead. No material coming out, which is why this print (which was meant to fill the plate) doesn’t have piles of plastic everywhere. Time for some maintenance!
I also wonder if the file itself is causing any problems – still having file-size issues with the complex linear patterns used. This particular STL file is 259MB, and only accounts for about a fifth of the total final product…. Hmmm back to watching Solidworks crash trying to combine all the parts into a single solid, reducing the number of surfaces and therefore file size. Well that’s the theory anyway!
– Posted by James Novak
edditive blog 
I was really looking forward to this print, I was curious to see how it would turn out. Yes indeed my fellow printer, I FEEL your pain. 1 in 5 have some sort of error…I was batting 10 for 10! I just recently got my bot tuned so I’m hoping to enter into a whole new world. Man, I couldn’t tell you if it was the stl or the nozzle but I wish you the best of luck and I’ll be keeping an eye out to see your results. I recently wrote a post called : “Confessions of a frustrated 3D printer”, trust me you are not alone!
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Just read your post, I CAN FEEL YOUR PAIN! All the 3D printing machines I’ve used are so twitchy it’s no wonder a lot of people I speak to during workshops etc. have dismissed the technology as a joke – 1 bad experience is enough for most people to turn away from any product, not just 3D printing. Hopefully your tuned machine improves your averages!!!
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Thank you James! Do you give workshops on 3D printing?
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Yes I run a number of 3D printing workshops and public lectures through the year as part of the university. A lot of it is with local high school students and teachers.
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