(Christmas issue) Layer Shift after Ironing Layer

Hi guys,

I’m having an amazing experience with my A1 printer :slightly_smiling_face: however I recently had an issue with a Christmas gift I was printing.

This print has ironing on “top surfaces” and the problem is that after the ironing of the snowflakes :snowflake: finish the next layer of filament is of poor quality making the snowman :snowman: on the 3D print look like it had a layer shift.

Here’s a picture of the snowman and the layer shift marked with a red arrow:

The thing is that if I apply a little force the snowman breaks at that specific layer which is the layer that is next after ironing the snowflakes.

If I remove the ironing of top surfaces for the 3D print, there are no errors.
NoIroning3Dprint

I think that to solve this issue I would have to create something like a filament tower just for ironing, but I don’t know if there is any other solution?

3MF file:
CHRISTMASPRESENTS_BambuA1_Nozzle0.4_ELEGOO.3mf (1.6 MB)
Filament:
Elegoo Petg

Your problem appears to be far too little surface area on the snowman.

Your picture indicates only a 2 wall contact point.

The entire white area or at least 59% of it should cover the red portion in order to give far more contact area.

Why is that missing?

All other elements have far greater coverage of white in the first layer of that colour.

Fix that, your problem will likely disappear.

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As @MalcTheOracle said, I would set a bit of infill, it seems to be set at 0%.

The problem is likely due to the large amount of time the ironing takes then it moves onto the snowman and has adhesion issues due to that layer having cooled off and no infill to help stabilize.

Edit: I checked your file, the 10% lightning infill is not working out so good, I would set 15% gyroid.

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Thank you everyone for your comments. :slightly_smiling_face:

After changing the settings to 15% infill and gyroid style as suggested by @Lenyo, there are no more issues with the snowman falling over if pressed. However, the snowman line is still very visible, which is not very aesthetically pleasing, as shown in the image below.

The problem is with the change form ironing mode to normal extrusion of filament mode and I don’t see an easy way of fixing this issue, therefore I’ve decided to remove the ironing step from my design.

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Just in case you want to try a few more things, it might resolve the body line there which is likely due to the difference in cooling between the solid bottom layers and the hollow upper layers exacerbated by the ironing time:

  • Usually we suggest more walls, but you have no more room, you could always make him a bit thicker walled.
  • Use wall order outer/inner. You might need to use a modifier block for this on the snowman because the trees with the overhangs may not take too well to it.
  • Not sure if you already are but use arachne wall generator mode.
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@jgarzagu - are you drying your filament? Reason I ask is it looks like you might be seeing some moisture issues along with the ironing issues.

In the very first image, “Love” looks a bit mangled and has some layer to layer defects that might be moisture content. Similar issues in the other text in other shots.

Not saying it is moisture causing the layer shift looking stuff but might be contributing?

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Good eye, the snowman eyes, nose and belly are giving the same from that first pic.

Though I suppose it could be a bit too low temp with PETG allowing it to build on the nozzle then deposit later, this is one you can keep an eye out for at least.

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Workaround: Print the snowman separately without ironing, and assemble or glue them afterwards.
P.S Sorry I don’t have enough experience to solve the problem permanently.

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It’s still potentially an excellent answer and one that many overlook. A forest for the trees thing.