3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or !functionalprint@fedia.io
There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml
Rules
-
No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
-
Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
-
No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
-
No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing
-
Do not create links to reddit
-
If you see an issue please flag it
-
No guns
-
No injury gore posts
If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe/ may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is 
Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible
view the rest of the comments
3D printing is generally pretty easy these days. Most of the difficult things from the early days have been largely automated through the use of numerous sensors and firmware improvements, as well as better engineering and materials being used to make the printers.
That said, some things are paramount.
Most filaments absorb water (hygroscopic), and need to be properly dried before use. A quick search should make a lot of resources come up.
The printing surface should be kept clean at all times. Keep a spray bottle of isopropanol and a cloth handy. Wipe the bed after each print.
Calibrate your filaments. Grab Orca Slicer and go through the calibration procedures. Save the profile with the brand and material in the name. Some filaments will diverge depending on colour as well, so if you start seeing different results it’s worth it re-calibrating for the new colour - save it as a new profile.
Most of all, have fun! Experiment, ask as many questions as you have. Don’t be shy. Sometimes what may seem like a stupid one is actually very important and non-obvious.
Thanks for the thorough comment. I'm looking at filament dryers now, and I'll definitely get some cleaning stuff as well.
A basic food dehydrator does a good job with drying filament rolls (and most can dry more than one at once).
The issue with most of the dedicated filament dryers is one of airflow. They get the filament rolls hot but don’t push the humid air out of the dryer. That’s not to say that they don’t work, but mostly they will work more slowly than a food dehydrator.