Spent 2 hours fixing a 3D print that failed at 95% finish

I was printing a little stand for my wife's jewelry box on my Ender 3, and the filament ran out with like 10 layers to go. Instead of tossing it I tried welding the new filament to the old with a lighter and re-slicing the last bit. It actually worked, but the seam looks rough. Anybody else ever salvage a print this way or am I just lucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

susan13022d ago

That 95% fail is rough, but honestly you got lucky. I tried the lighter trick once with PLA on a big lithophane and it just made a brittle mess that snapped apart when I took it off the bed. The heat from the lighter changes the polymer structure too much, plus you get that ugly seam you mentioned. If you ever do it again, try using a heat gun instead - more even heat and less charring. But really for 10 layers, I would have just measured the height and started a new print from that layer up. Your wife might not mind the seam on the bottom of a stand anyway, so maybe it's fine as a functional part.

milessmith22d ago

Have to wonder if we're overthinking this a bit. A lighter flame is what, maybe 10 seconds of contact on a small spot? Is the polymer structure really changing that dramatically on a bottom layer that nobody sees? Most of the PLA we print with has some give to it, and a little heat isn't going to make it snap like glass unless you're really torching it. The heat gun idea is fine and all, but who's got one of those just sitting around for a 10 layer rescue mission? Sometimes you just want the thing done and moving on with your life.

drew_bennett2417d ago

Milessmith makes a good point though, sometimes you just gotta get it done.