G3D - Warping

What is warping ? !!!

Whenever some part of your printing object starts to lift upwards from the
build plate, you’ve got a warped 3D print . This problem occurs because the
temperature differences between layers of extruded layers is too high. This in turn
creates tension within the model, and when it gets to be too much, lower layers start
to drag or lift, creating a warp.

How can we prevent or minimize this?

Brim and raft (simplify3d or CURA)

Add a brim or raft to your 3D print which in turn provides better build plate adhesion and
results in minimal or no warping condition. For materials like ABS and PETG etc., due to
their sensitivity towards moisture, warping is prone at its very starting of the print. So adding
a Brim will try limit warping at the outer layers of the brim safeguarding the part .
 Raft are primarily used with ABS and PETG platforms to help warping and bed adhesion.
They are also used to stabilize support structures or lay a foundation for small and
complicated design structures to be printed above. Since it is used to support the print on an
uneven levelled bed. But even in somecases, warping is observed affecting the part.

The Brim may be a preferred option to the raft in helping with adhesion, as the brim can
easily be printed much faster and uses far less filament. Once the print is complete, the
thin brim can be separated from the print and discarded.
Bedlevelling

Bedlevelling is mandatory for any 3d print to stick or adhere to the bed surface and avoid
risk of warping. There are two techniques of bed levelling Manual and Auto Bedleveling
techniques which are discussed briefly below

Manual Bed levelling :

It is done with the usage of stick note paper and adjustment of thumb nuts as shown in the
pictures below.

Auto Bed levelling :

Auto bed leveling is done using Pronterface and the following commands
1. G28
2. G29
G29 takes 9 points on your bed surface. With the adjustment of thumbnuts and repeating the
process, we should get these 9 points closed to zero. For detailed content on Bed Levelling
techniques, visit(put the link after putting the first layer adhesion pdf in the website)
Z offset and squishing.

Z Offset is the separation distance between the nozzle and the bed surface. The most
commonly used z offset is 0.2mm while for fine result, we can go with 0.1mm.
Squishing is another phenomenon for proper adhesion of your print. Squishing can be
better explained as the width of material that is extruded while printing the first layer. We
can adjust these settings in any slicing software.
For the first layer to adhere properly, extrusion height and extrusion width play a key role

 Extrusion width – 120% of the nozzle diameter is preferably good.

 Extrusion height – depending on the layer height, we need to set the extrusion
height.

Layer height Percent increase Extrusion height

0.1 200 0.2
0.2 150 0.3
0.3 100 0.3
Regulate Bed and Nozzle Temperatures.

a. Use a heated bed.

This helps to reduce temperature difference in the part. A heated build plate also
helps with bed adhesion.
Recommended Bed temperatures and Nozzle temperatures for various materials
are as follows.
material Printing Heat bed Print Layer
temperature(*c) Temperature(*c) speed(first height
layer)(mm/s)
PLA 200 - 210 0/65 40 >0.1
ABS 230 - 240 80 - 100 30 >0.1
PETG 245- 250 70-80 35-40 >0.15
TPU 220 0 30-40 >0.1
WOOD 205- 220 0 40-50 >0.15

b. Control room temperature.

Do this by keeping windows and doors closed. Prevent any kind of cold air
from suddenly touching the 3D print.

Cooling of the print.

a. Adjust the cooling.
As you need to cool the filament for better bridging, less stringing and to allow
the melted plastic to solidify fast to form an accurate geometry. But turning off or
lowering the speed of the cooling fans of your 3d print(PLA fan), for the first few
layers, may help to even out temperatures enough to keep your model flat on the
build plate.

*Incase of ABS and PETG, disable the cooling fan to avoid warping.
Adhesion techniques.
There are around 10 adhesion techniques that can be used to minimize the
warping. But most commonly used among them are
1. Glue stick accompanied by fevikwik after 3 layers.
2. ABS slurry for ABS
3. PEI sheets.
4. Hair spray.

For more information on first layer adhesion techniques, please click put
the link after putting the first layer adhesion pdf in the website)

Babystepping and Adjustment of Thumb nuts.

Babystepping is a way of setting z offset when in emergency on the LCD.
PICS OF BABYSTEPPING FROM LCD (OUR MKS 12864 LCD IS having that option.
When printing you can take pics of that).
When you find the nozzle hitting the bedsurface while printing making the
filament to not extrude or when the nozzle is printing too far from the bed making
the filament to not stick to surface, Babystepping can be used in such cases to
move up or lower the nozzle accordingly.

In the case, where the z offset of your printer is fine, but the level of your bed is uneven,
there the adjustment of thumb nuts come into action since they operate on spring
mechanism. So, when the nozzle is hitting the bed, tighten the thumbnuts till u get a
clearance and if the nozzle is printing in the air, loosen the thumbnuts to move the bed
upwards. This helps in proper adhesion avoiding the risk of warping.
Enclosure
While printing ABS and PETG etc., there is chance of warping due to
moistureand outside air. In order to prevent the chance of warping, an
enclosure is mandatory especially for the open type machines. Well for the
closed type, we don’t require any additional arrangement.
a. Use a trash bag which helps in keeping the temperature uniform
throughout the printing process.
b. Isolate the machine to closed chambers from the cold air touching the
print.

Draft shield and Helper discs.

Draft shield is an additional feature present in cura slicer, which on enabling
prints an outer shield like a wall around the part possibly reducing the
moisture and outside air from touching the part reducing the risk of warping.

Helper discs commonly known as Elephant foot can be very helpful to avoid
warping of parts having rectangular or sharp edges, which are readily prone
to warping phenomenon. In other words, small discs a couple of layers high
that you 3D print under your model to enhance bed adhesion on corners.
Place the discs on the build plate in your slicer so that they barely touch each
 corner of the model.You can readily download them here
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:839635

Precautions
a. Reduce the printing speed by 50% of the actual speed.
b. Evenly apply the adhesive.
c. Use an enclosure.
d. Extrusion height should be 150% in the first layer.