One of the most common problems for people starting out with their first 3D prints is getting the print to ‘stick’ to the build platform. Often you can’t even get the print to start correctly and you will be left with a ball of spaghetti. Other times you will get the print to start OK, but after a while the bottom of the print starts to curl and lift from the build platform.

Fused deposition printers, such as the RepRap, UP! and PrintrBot are comprised of four main components: Cooling fans and electronics for running the show. Stepper motors for moving everything around. A hotend for melting the plasting. Heated build platform for preventing curling and lifting. So how much electricity do each of these main components use? And what sort of power will get eaten up during a typical 3D printing session?

Lots of 3D printing problems stem from plastic oozing out of the hotend, as everything warms up and the plastic becomes soft and begins to flow, gravity takes hold and molten plastic can ooze out of the hot end. Hal Tucker from Cliffhanger sums up the problem perfectly with his line “Gravity’s a bitch, ain’t it?” One of my first, terribly lumpy ooze-tastic prints Oozing before printing: When bringing your 3D printer up to temperature (180°c for PLA), and your printhead is not all the way down on the z-axis and resting on the build platform.

Often one of the first printed projects people create on their freshly built or purchased 3D printer is some sort of cup or shot glass. But as this thingiverse blog points out: Just because you can eat food out of it, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. While plastic is often seen as this inert, sterile material. It will break down under the right conditions. Those conditions vary from plastic to plastic, with some plastics taking such a long time to decompose they sometimes draw analogies with nuclear waste.