Esthetic 3D Printing
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In this guide, I will discuss the basics of 3d printing. The purpose of this guide is to improve the quality of 3d prints. Modern printers such as Prusa and Bambu Lab offer excellent print quality, nevertheless, there are a few obvious, or less obvious, issues to pay attention to so that our prints look good.
Contents
1. Filament selection
1.1 Type
Good filament selection is 70% of the final effect. When choosing a filament, we can distinguish two issues. The type of material used and its visual qualities. While the type of material mainly affects the final product’s physical properties, the selection of a sophisticated filament will significantly affect the perception of the print. You can find technical details of the most popular materials here: PLA, PETG, ABS.
The most popular and, in most cases, the best choice will be PLA-type filament. It is the easiest filament to print and offers the widest range of colors. If your project uses flexible components, you might consider printing them from PETg material.
1.2 Colors
Avoid obvious, plain colors. Choosing simple colors is one of the biggest aesthetic mistakes. The best choice for prints that are meant to look good will be all kinds of particle blended filaments. Such material is more interesting to the eye and helps hide the visibility of layers. It works very well for large uniform surfaces.
1.3 Quality matters
The quality of the filament used is critical to both the printing process and the final result. Low-quality filaments are characterized by high shrinkage, distortion, layer separation, stringing, and nozzle clogging.
1.4 Color combinations
Choose the right color combination. Choose the colors so that they work well together. For large pieces, avoid using colors that are far apart from each other. Try to keep the colors consistent. It is commonly believed that using one main color is “Style”. Using two main colors is “Elegance.” Using three main colors is “Cacophony.”
1.5 Accent color.
While flashy plain colors should be avoided in the main elements, Vivid filaments are an excellent choice for use in accent pieces. However, be sure to choose one maximum accent color and stick to it.
1.6 Filament drying.
Be sure to keep the filament dry. The drier the better. Using dry filament will reduce stringing and bubbles. It will also improve the adhesion of the layers and the appearance of the finished model. It is best to store the filament in an airtight container with a moisture-absorbing liner. For detailed instructions on drying your filament, click here.
2. Filament calibration
2.1 Custom presets.
It’s good practice to calibrate your printer for every filament you use, especially when using filaments from different manufacturers. Filaments from different manufacturers tend to be slightly different. The most common parameters that require tuning are temperature and multiplayer flow.
2.2 Temperature tower.
The most important parameter determining the quality of printing is temperature. Selecting a precise printing temperature helps minimize stringing and find the point at which the filament achieves adequate plasticity and adhesion. Unfortunately, the temperature ranges provided by the manufacturer are often far from optimal. In order to accurately determine the proper temperature for your filament, you should print a “temperature tower”. This is a specially prepared model that tests a different temperature on each level of the tower during printing. After printing, you should visually assess where in the tower the filament performed best. Download the temperature tower 3d model.
2.3 Extrusion multiplier.
The flow multiplier is a parameter that determines how much plastic your printer’s nozzle extrudes during printing. In theory, any filament of the same diameter should have the same multiplier. Unfortunately, in real life, many factors affect this parameter. Slight variations during the production process or the density of the filament itself can seriously affect the final print result. See how to calibrate your Extrusion Multiplier.
3. Slicing
3.1 Infill angle.
Correct settings for infill angle are one of the parameters that will instantly make your print look better. In most cases, it’s set by default to 45 degrees. I recommend setting it to 0 or 90 degrees. The primary goal is to make the infill parallel to the exterior walls. In this scenario, top and bottom layer infill will correspond to exterior walls.
3.2 Seam position.
The strategic placement of seams is another factor that will significantly improve the aesthetics of the print. The basic seam placement algorithm does a good job in most cases. Unfortunately, for models without sharp edges, the algorithm may place the seam randomly, completely ruining the aesthetics of the print. In such cases, it’s a good idea to paint the seam location by hand or set the seam to always be on the back of the model. The worst possible choice is to put the seam to random mode. This setting will create hundreds of small defects all over the print.
3.3 Complete individual objects.
If you are printing many small objects at once, the best strategy is to force print individual objects. In this mode, the printer will start and finish printing one object and then immediately start printing the next object elsewhere on the plate. The advantage of such a solution is that stringing is almost completely minimized. In addition, if a printing error occurs, you can immediately jump to the next object.
3.4 Use 3 perimeters or more.
Most slicers use two perimeters as a base value, which has the downside of making the infill more visible through the object walls. Some filaments have increased light transmission, so you can see the infill through the walls. One way to fix this is to increase the number of perimeters, which also helps you avoid creating infill patterns on thin object walls.
3.4 Layer height.
Using a lower layer height will contribute to better resolution of the printed object. The difference can be seen, especially on sloping surfaces. The optimal layer height is 0.15mm. In extreme cases, you can go as low as 0.08mm.
3.5 Custom brims and supports
When using brims, you must manually remove the first layer around the entire model. This can cause print damage. However, if the situation requires the use of borders, I recommend using custom borders to address sensitive areas such as corners or thin objects.
Sometimes, automatically generated supports can weld to the printed model, causing visible defects. Use custom supports manually painted on the model instead.
4. Preparing the printer
4.1 Nozzle cleaning.
Make sure that the nozzle is clean. Both inside and out. A common scenario is pieces of old filament sticking to the nozzle. Sometimes such old filament can come off during printing and contaminate the new print. Cleaning from the outside is based on the use of a steel brush. The best method for cleaning the inside of the nozzle is the “cold pull” method.
4.2 Plate cleaning.
A clean plate is another ingredient for better printing. It is important to remember that the quality of the surface of the plate directly affects the quality of the print hanging. Any dirt, greasy stains, or residue from old filament will be perfectly visible on the finished model. I recommend using warm water with a little dish soap to clean the plate. Be sure to dry the plate after such treatment.
4.3 Liquid glue
Liquid glue is a great tool for any printer. In the case of PLA, it helps to increase adhesion significantly. In the case of PETG, it reduces adhesion so that the printed model can be easily removed from the plate.
The advantage of liquid glue over glue sticks is that it leaves a smooth surface after application. Glue sticks can leave an uneven layer of glue, which can ruin the visual effect after printing.
I recommend using regular school liquid glue that dissolves well in water. I also recommend using a kitchen sponge to spread the glue evenly.
4.3 Textured vs smooth plate.
Another important decision is the choice of plate. A classic textured plate perfectly captures the character of the plastic. It will also allow you to hide the lines of the print perfectly. Recently, there have been a lot of plates on the market with custom designs. Following the principle of “less is more”, I would suggest staying with the standard smooth and textured patterns.
5. Other tips
5.1 Tips for printing wood filaments
Wood filament is a tricky piece of poop. With some filaments, you can get away with base settings, but In this project, I had to challenge one of the most frustrating ones. In my practice, I found a few general tips on how to print wood filaments well.
- Use a 0.6 mm nozzle. In some cases, you can get away with 0.4mm, but using a larger nozzle will save you 99% of frustration.
- Disable retraction.
- Use 210°C temperature.
- Reduce your speed. Please ensure that you do not exceed 40mm/s.
- Use standard 1.0 flow rate.
- Clean your nozzle after every print. I usually unscrew the PTFE filament tube and push the standard filament directly through the nozzle a few times. You can do an additional cold pull for good measure.
Summary
- Use PLA for stiff elements and PETG for flexible elements.
- Avoid flashy colors for the main body of the design.
- Choose one or two sophisticated colors that fit the nature of the product.
- Use a maximum of one accent color.
- Choose good-quality filament.
- Choose filaments with particles to blend layer lines.
- Use dry filament.
- Calibrate every new type of filament.
- Tune the fill angle to the object’s orientation on the print plate.
- Check the seam placement and place it manually if necessary.
- Print individual objects.
- Use a minimum 3 perimeters
- Use a small layer height.
- Use custom brims or supports if necessary.
