Overheating

WHAT’S THE ISSUE?

Due to the thermoplastic character for the filament, the material become soft after heating. But if the temperature of the newly extruded filament is too high without being rapidly cooled and solidified, the model will easily deform during the cooling process.

POSSIBLE CAUSES

∙ Nozzle Temperature Too High

∙ Insufficient Cooling

∙ Improper Printing Speed

TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS

Nozzle Temperature Too High

The model will not cool and solidify if the temperature of the nozzle is too high and result in the filament over heated.

Check the recommended Material setting

Different filaments have different printing temperature. Double check if the temperature of the nozzle is suitable for the filament.

Decrease the nozzle temperature

If the nozzle temperature is high or close to the upper limit of the filament printing temperature, you need to lower the nozzle temperature appropriately to avoid the filament from overheating and deforming. The nozzle temperature can be gradually reduced by 5-10°C to find a suitable value.

Insufficient Cooling

After the filament is extruded, a fan is usually needed to help the model cool down rapidly. If the fan doesn’t work well, it will cause overheating and deformation.

Check the fan

Check whether the fan is fixed on the correct place and the wind guide is directed at the nozzle. Ensure the fan is operating normally that air flow is smooth.

Adjust the speed of the fan

The speed of the fan can be adjusted by the slicing software or the printer to enhance cooling.  

Add additional fan

If the printer does not have a cooling fan, just add one or more.

Improper Printing Speed

The printing speed will affect the cooling of the filament, so you should choose different printing speeds according to different situations. When doing a small print or making some small-area layers such as tips, if the speed is too high, the new filament will accumulate on the top while the previous layer has not been completely cooled down, and results in overheating and deforming. In this case, you need to reduce the speed to give the filament enough time to cool down.

INCREASE PRINTing SPEED

Under normal circumstances, increasing the printing speed can make the nozzle leave the extruded filament faster, avoiding heat accumulation and deforming.

Decrease printing speed

When printing a small-area layer, reducing the printing speed can increase the cooling time of the previous layer, thereby preventing overheating and deformation. Some slicing software such as Simplify3D can individually reduce the printing speed for small area layers without affecting the overall printing speed.

printing multiple parts at once

If there are several small parts to be printed, then print them at the same time that can increase the area of the layers, so that each layer has more cooling time for each individual part. This method is simple and effective to solve the overheating problem.