Many designs and revisions were made to our design for the optimal print. We wanted the least amount of print errors and the shortest print time possible. We want to share what we learned so we can help reduce the issues with 3D printing face shields.

 

• What kind of 3D Printer and slicer you use impacts the quality of the prints. Double check the leveling of your printer bed and quality of your slice. We had printers that did not have a good leveling process. The results were print failures and wasted material. This was the single most important issue we ran into and because we were limited to the printers we had, there wasn’t a whole lot we could do other than trial and error.

• If you choose to not use auto leveling, you could manually level the build plate by using a test print. There are many test prints available online. When using a test print check to see that the filament emerging from the nozzle is close to the bed but not close enough to see the nozzle shape on the final print. The distance between the bed and the nozzle should be uniform throughout the whole bed.

• Our 3D printers did not have heated beds, if this is the case for you, it might help to cover the printer with a blanket to keep the bed warm. Having the bed warm helps with adhesion and lessens the chance of warping. If you do plan on covering your 3D printer, please make sure you don’t cover the ventilation holes or the power supply fan. 

• The “sweet spot” is to have the largest layer height possible and without failure. This will require trial and error with test prints. The print has to be level and be at the right height from the nozzle for the best results. The higher the level height the faster the print. Faster prints lead to more shields being printed.

• The Infil should be 10% but it can be increased for a stronger shield. Keep in mind that this increases the print time. The floor solid and floor surface thickness can be adjusted for a better floor of the print. There isn’t a need for a raft or a base, but if you have many failed prints, a raft can help reduce the failures. A skirt/brim is also useful for reducing the amount of failures.

• We had a layer height of 0.3 mm. With enough tweaking of the leveling we were able to have great prints within a reasonable amount of time.

• If your print finishes with wavy like patterns, your layer height is too high. Reduce the layer height to reduce the amount of these errors.

• There are instances where the floor layer of the print does not stick properly to the rest of the print. This can be fixed with a thicker floor layer or a cleaning of the printer