Part Warping Troubleshooting Markforged Industrial & Desktop 3D Printers
Knowledge Base Article | June 21, 2024 | Share across your network:
Introduction
If you are experiencing issues with warping on a Markforged Industrial or Desktop series printer, please refer to this troubleshooting guide.
Why Do Parts Warp?
In general, warping in 3D printed parts is due to thermal deformation. Almost all FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) 3D printers, like Markforged, use thermoplastics for printing. When the plastic is being extruded, it is heated up which causes the plastic to expand. When the plastic cools, it shrinks. This expanding and shrinking can cause 3D printed parts to warp.
Many printed parts warp due to the material limitation of FFF in combination with the part designs not being optimized for 3D printing. This document will discuss a few suggestions to help mitigate warping in your 3D printed parts.
System Solutions For Warping
To help minimize warping, consider the following:
- Keep the print bed and printing environment warm during the printing process. This will help keep the part at temperature and keep it from cooling, which can prevent warping. Keep the visor and printer lid closed to keep the heat in while printing.
Note: Please take caution when introducing any heating element to the printing environment. Saratech or Markforged will not be responsible for any damage to the printer. - Make sure the print bed is leveled properly. If the print bed is not leveled properly and the print bed is too high, this can prevent the part from adhering to the print bed properly and cause warping to occur.
- Apply a thick layer of glue under the entire base of your part. This will help the part adhere to the print bed and ensure better surface contact.
- Before removing the part from the print bed, let it cool completely. Doing so can help minimize the amount of flex and warping while removing the part.
Design Solutions For Warping
3D printing parts warp because of a thermal moment that occurs around the edge of the part. This thermal moment is caused when the FFF printer heats the plastic until it is semi-fluidic to extrude, and the material shrinks as it cools. Each “line” that is laid down wants to contract lengthwise as it is cooling. Typically, there is not enough force for the part to break away from the print bed. However, as more layers are printed, more force builds up, causing the parts to warp. Therefore, long, thin parts more commonly experience warping.
To help minimize warping, consider the following:
- Use the recommended print settings. Altering the part infill, wall/floor count, or other parameters can worsen the warping of the Nylon part. For instance, increasing the infill density can lead to the part contracting unevenly as it cools, resulting in warping. The recommended print settings have been tested to optimize for the best print quality and should be used when possible.
- Use rounded corners rather than sharp corners. Stress is concentrated at sharp corners and commonly induces warping. Adding a fillet to round the corners will distribute the stress and reduce stress concentration. Generally, rounder cross-sections that contact the print bed will reduce warping.
- Use the Brim feature. Adding a brim to your part can reduce warping or curling for a couple of reasons. First, adding a brim increases the bottom surface that is in contact with the print bed which increases the adhesion of the part. Second, any warping that does occur takes place on the brim, which will experience the worst of it. Additionally, the brim can provide a better surface for support structures to stick to.
- Design fillets or custom brims onto your part. Depending on the geometry, parts may still warp because the brim might not be large enough or curved enough. In this case, it may be necessary to design the brim in your CAD software. It is suggested to add thin, round dots to all the corners of the parts. This creates more surface area that will contact the print bed at key areas where warping occurs.
- Print in a good orientation for 3D printing. Orient your part for printing so that the largest face is facing the bottom and in contact with the print bed. Warping tends to occur when the cross section increases as the layers are stacked on top of each other. Additionally, having more surface area in contact with the print bed results in more adhesion which can help reduce warping.
- Use Continuous Fiber. Incorporating fibers into the part forces the bottom layers to be flat, which makes it very difficult to warp. When using this method, it is important to use the sandwich method by adding fiber at the top layers as well.
- Use Onyx if possible. Compared to Nylon, Onyx does not deform as much under heat which means it will be less prone to warping.