3D Printer - MY Noob Mistakes

As posted before, I have been playing with a new TEVO Little Monster 3D Printer, I have made a LOT of Noob mistakes that could have been avoided if I had only knew.

The following are notes to myself.

o. Do not turn off the power to the 3D Printer unless you are certain that the Hot-End has cooled down. if not, removing power to the 3D Printer will cause the filament to melt within the Cold-End and then a complicated repair method will be required to fix the problem.

o. Remember, 3D Printing is very SLOW, it is much slower than waiting for paint to dry.

o. Remember the hot-end is VERY HOT, I have several burns to remind me.

o. Learn how to set the Z zero Height to within a paper thickness of the print bed, or nothing will work correctly until you do, no mater how hard you try.

o. Buy several sets of Print Head replacement parts, for the; Cold-End, Thermal Break, and Hot-End.

o. Consider buying some Tetrahydrofuran (THF) , it is the only effective thing that will dissolve PLA (for Hot-End  clean and repair), and it can be used to glue PLA parts together. Or at least that is what google suggests.

o. Note, MOST often Hot-End repair work will be done while it is HOT (about 210 C, or more), other wise PLA will be hard and not easily removed.

o. For my use, Blue Painter Tape works best for the Printer Bed, it has some texture that will show up on the printed part, but PLA stick very good to it. A roles of Blue Painters Tape (10 inches wide) are available on-line for about $50, and worth every penny, it makes bed prep very easy.

o. If the Hot-End is disassembled, for cleaning or repair, remember it has to be re-assembled and tightened while at intended operating temperature, for me that is about 215C.  If not, it WILL leak.


Note: I will add to this list as I learn more.


-- Home Page: https://WA0UWH.blogspot.com