How can I improve the overhang angles my printer can successfully print? (2 Solutions!)
Channel: Roel Van de Paar
Date: 2019-06-26

3D Printing: How can I improve the overhang angles my printer can successfully print?


The Question: Using an FDM printer and PLA or ABS, without adding support material. What
modifications can I make to improve how steep an overhang my printer can print
before it starts having problems?
The obvious first answer is to add a cooling fan, increasing the airflow over
the freshly-extruded material ensuring it solidifies. What other things can
improve it?
Does lowing the temperature help? Raising it?
Does speeding up or slowing down the print head help?
Does increasing/decreasing the extrusion diameter, or layer height help?

Solutions: Please watch the whole video to see all solutions, in order of how many people found them helpful

== This solution helped 4 people ==
There's an answer 3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/519/how-to-
improve-face-that-are-printed-on-support?answertab=oldest#tab-top that holds
some of the same concepts. Regarding your questions:
 * Does lowering the temperature help? Raising it? : Yes, lowering the
 temperature can help. I've found that it is best to stay closer to the
 lower end of the material's melting point and just a bit above the point.
 Not only does this help with potential over extrusion, but also shortens
 the time it takes for the material to cool (refer to the link above).
 However, this could cause clogging if your temperature is too low. Keep
 an eye on your drive gear to see if there is too much friction while at
 lower temperatures. Increasing may keep the drive gear from "eating" your
 filament.
 * Does speeding up or slowing down the print head help? : I prefer to print
 slower, most of the time, to allow the material to cool a bit more to
 avoid curling/warping (I primarily print with ABS, so it matters more).
 You might be able to give and take between temperature and speed.
 Consider if your nozzle is cooler and your speed is up, bridging gaps
 might yield the same results as if you proportionately swap these two
 values. This concept may only matter if you are in a pinch to get the
 part done. Again, I prefer slowing my machine down as it allows current/
 previous layers to cool more before continuing. This can be especially
 helpful with overhangs when paired with lowering your nozzle temperature.
 * Does increasing/decreasing the extrusion diameter, or layer height help -
 I assume that extrusion diameter equals layer height (not difference in
 nozzle diameter, aka swapping nozzles). I'm not completely sure, but I
 think this depends on the part as well as slicing engine settings. For
 me, MakerWare is pretty good about proportionately adjusting extrusion
 steps with layer height, so I see an equal change in the width of the
 extrusion. I would think that in general, a larger layer height would
 yield a larger extrusion width. This would be helpful when printing
 overhangs, but may not be helpful when printing bridges (a larger strand
 will retain heat longer than a smaller one).
Hopefully this helps, please comment if you need more information/
clarification.

With thanks & praise to God, and with thanks to the many people who have made this project possible! | Content (except music & images) licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 | Music: www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music | Images: stocksnap.io/license & others | With thanks to user tbm0115 (askubuntu.com/users/98), user Ryan Carlyle (askubuntu.com/users/298), user Martin Carney (askubuntu.com/users/131), and the Stack Exchange Network (3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/686). Trademarks are property of their respective owners. Disclaimer: All information is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. You are responsible for your own actions. Please contact me if anything is amiss at Roel D.OT VandePaar A.T gmail.com.