Failures

I have mentioned that there are a lot of failures in 3D printing.   Initially, I thought this was me and my inexperience but the more I read and videos and live streams I watch and I realize it's not me, it's part of the process.  Or maybe I mean part of the experience.   Either way, it happens a lot. 

There are so many variables in play and while it is completely possible to get perfectly consistent high-quality prints, but it requires tuning for material, model, machine and environment and even that won't be failure-free, it increases the success rate percentage.  

I know it sounds negative about 3D printing, but it's really not that way.  I have loads of prints that are great, some of which came out perfect the first try.   Then, there are others I've been trying to get to print for some time and no matter what I do, I can't seem to get them to be successful. 

Last night I started a print on a donut-shaped vase in a miniature size, to see how it would looks in a particular material.   It was two hours in and looking fantastic in the Wizard's Voodoo glittery purple filament.   This morning, I awoke to this: 

I decided to upgrade to the larger extruder nozzle anyways and try for the full-sized model.   Things were going really well until about a third into the print when I noticed what appeared to be either cooling problems or extruder motor overheating.   I went to the attic and got the mega fan and pointed it directly at the printer and things improved.   I may have a cooling fan shroud issue, but that would have to wait until after the print.   The large version wasn't as pristine as the lower-half of the small one, but it was printed with one-tenth the level of fineness.  

It can happen with anything, including something small and simple.  I went to dinner after ensuring the Calicat color swatch model was printing without any problem (I didn't expect it to given the stock settings and filament) but then I came back to this after dinner:

The good news is I can start again.   And every time I learn something.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has his Mystery History presentation coming up at the end of the month this year again.   We're not nearly as involved this year as we were last year but he's much more confident  about his ability to do the project well. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter impressed everyone with her rock wall climbing skills at the Y-Guides event she and her father went to yesterday.   She met a lady who also was blind in one eye who had lost her sight as a child.