If you could solve one problem...

[sdr1]

The question is a bit too simple. Different 3D printing processes have different problems. Issues you might have with a resin printer (eg: messiness, adhesion difficulties, expensive feedstocks) don't necessarily apply to FFF printers, which have other problems (lack of soluble support material, clogging, dribbling) or powder-bed printers (abrasion, clumping, contamination). If you narrow your focus to a particular process - or even better, a particular machine - the answers you get will be more coherent.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

I think you are right about the fact that narrowing the question could result in more specific answers. It was my intention, however to first look for more "global" issues, universal for all types of processes. Let's see how this approach takes us.
Thanks for your inptun nonetheless!

drive systems used in FDM
with proper feedback servo style control and bigger servos / steppers i can see print speed well over 1000mm/s within reach granted a extremely strong frame will be needed.
I'm prototyping a system now and i can safely print at 450mm/s with .05mm layers jerk settings over 100mm/s accel well over 10,000mm/s
i plan to make this into NEMA 23 and NEMA 34 Backpacks that just feed in data over I2C, SPI, Serial, or USB
stepper driver is built controller is 32bit based and well include a 600 count rotary encoder.
I'm also toying with Brushless motors.

I must admit, I don't feel my current technical understanding of 3d printing process allows me to fully grasp the issue here. I think I get it more or less though, and I hope the system you are working on will work as intended!

[MercedesStolp]

If you are a 3D printing enthusiast, you would sure realize that no two 3D printing machines are made alike and even in the same 3D printer the settings may various from day to day. These cause issues with the prints. To solve this issue, you should use an all-in-one 3D printable calibration test which can determine many different issues and problems all at once.
The file is uploaded in Thingiverse. So, anyone with a 3D printer can download the file free of charge and print it. The printer settings should be set to its lowest possible layer height with an infill of approximately 33%, in order to ensure that all the details come out correctly.

[sdr1]

For people who mentioned warping as a problem, I've done a little research and found some advice on the web:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Prev...rping-no-mess/
http://www.instructables.com/id/100-...t-3D-Printing/
http://wiki.solidoodle.com/avoiding-warping
http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2011/06...g-and-curling/
(Hope this isn't viewed as spam here. I'd happily remove the links if it is - posted this because this may be helpful to someone.)

Have you tried any of the solutions mentioned in this article?
Do you find any of them helpfull?

I'm guessing one of the solution mentioned there - "print slower" - wouldn't be greatly appreciated seeing that the speed is such an issue with 3d printing. :-)

[richardphat]

It somehow works for small print bed, doesn't work well for big print above 10"

The only thing I can see is to build a regulate temperature in an enclosure.

[Wolfie]

Hello everyone!

I'm doing a little study on 3d printing, and I've got a simple question for you:
If you could solve one problem with 3d printing what would it be and why?

I'd appreciate your answers.
Cheers.

Since we are only allowed ONE problem...

Fix shipping from overseas to the US. Its too slow. Too problematic. Too expensive. Fix it please You know, if we can get 3 men from Cape Kennedy to the MOON in only 4 days 46 years ago, why the hell can't we get a package from the UK to Milwaukee in 4 days today?

[curious aardvark]

more speed, but retaining precision and layer height.

Just had a thought. how about a couple of dozen densely packed extruders all working at once :-)
No I have no idea how you'd do that. But it might work, lol

[curious aardvark]

Since we are only allowed ONE problem...

Fix shipping from overseas to the US. Its too slow. Too problematic. Too expensive. Fix it please You know, if we can get 3 men from Cape Kennedy to the MOON in only 4 days 46 years ago, why the hell can't we get a package from the UK to Milwaukee in 4 days today?

well for one thing - they never went. :-)

[Wolfie]

And aliens built the pyramids too....riiiiight? <wink>

[curious aardvark]

no.

But anyone who looks at the evidence can only conclude that nasa lied through their teeth about most aspects of the space program.
So why not about the moon landing as well ?
The cameras and filmstock they took would not have worked. Nor could they have been used from inside a space suit. Manual focussing, and in the near zero temperatures and near perfect vacumn of the moon the mechanical parts would have been vacumn welded solid.
Then there's the fact that they used standard film stock. Which would also not function at those temperatures. The celluloid would become brittle and crumble while the chemicals themselves would be working so slowly every picture would have massively underexposed - if any image was ever registered.
The man who designed the cameras has gone on record as stating they would absolutely not have worked.
So they mocked up all those perfectly framed, perfectly focussed, perfectly exposed, pictures.
There's no other possible way they could have got them.

And that's just the really really obvious stuff.

So yeah, they lied through their teeth about most of it, why not about the actual landing itself ?

Nobody's ever found the lander - via orbiting surveys or terrestrial telescopes.
And what better reason for scrapping the space program than being found out.

The more you actually look at the facts - the more doubt any sane person has.

But that's by the by.

Things to improve on 3d printers. Number 1 has to be a perfect surface to print on.
One that has fantastic filament grab while also allowing prints to be removed easily. A surface that lasts forever and works at all temps with all materials.

[sdr1]

Well, let's stick to the topic guys. :-)

Wolfie's post about problem with shipping from overseas to the US was the first one mentioned that was not strictly about the actual PRINTING PROCESS in a narrow sense (act of printing), but still applying to a lot of people that 3d print.
Let's try to follow this direction, take this wider approach and see where it takes us in this discussion.

What would you say is the one problem you'd love to solve that is connected with 3d printing but is not part of the actual printing process? (E.g. this may be connected with designing, buying stuff, software or any other thing that is done in order to 3d print something).

While I know this is a very wide questions, I'm sure you can think of one think that was/is a source of biggest PAIN in your projects.