Hardened nozzles: when abrasive filament makes them necessary
Carbon fibre and glow-in-the-dark eat brass in a spool or two. Hardened steel costs less than the prints you will scrap.
Symptom diagnoser
What went wrong with your print?
Pick the symptom you can see on the plate. Every fix here is written against a specific failure mode, with the settings that actually change it.
Blobs, zits and a visible seam line
A small defect where each layer starts and stops, stacked into a visible line.
Cracking and layer delamination
Layers separate under load or on their own. Weak bonding from cold plastic or a cold chamber.
Drooping overhangs and failed bridges
Plastic sags before it sets. Cooling and slower perimeters do most of the work.
Elephant foot on the bottom layer
The first layers bulge outwards. Too much squish plus a bed hotter than it needs to be.
First layer not sticking to the build plate
Nine times out of ten the plate is contaminated with skin oil, not badly levelled. Wash it before you touch the Z offset.
Layer shifting partway through a print
Everything above a certain height is offset. Belts, grub screws or a speed the machine cannot hold.
Nozzle clogged: partial and complete blockages
A partial clog degrades quality gradually; a complete one stops everything. The cold pull handles both.
Print detached mid-print and turned into spaghetti
The part came off the plate and the nozzle kept extruding into air. Adhesion, warping or a knock.
Ringing and ghosting on vertical surfaces
Echoes of a corner repeating across the wall. Mechanical vibration the frame cannot damp fast enough.
Stringing and oozing between parts
Fine hairs across gaps. Moisture first, temperature second, retraction third — in that order.
Supports that will not come off
Supports fused to the part. Increase the Z gap and reduce the interface density.
Under-extrusion: thin, gappy walls
Not enough plastic is arriving. Partial clog, worn nozzle or an uncalibrated flow rate — check in that order.
Warping: corners lifting off the bed
Plastic shrinks as it cools and pulls the corners up. Heat is the fix, not adhesion tricks.
Z banding: repeating horizontal lines up the print
Bands at a regular pitch. Measure the spacing — it tells you which part is at fault.
Not a print defect?
Error codes · Calibration · Filament
T1
Print defects
Stringing, warping, first layer, under-extrusion
14 articles
T2
Error codes
HMS, MINTEMP, thermal runaway, homing failed
16 articles
T3
Calibration
Z offset, flow, pressure advance, input shaper
4 articles
T4
Filament
Temps, drying, enclosures, PLA vs PETG vs ASA
4 articles
T5
Parts & fit
Nozzles, plates, hotends — and what fits what
3 articles
T6
Slicer
OrcaSlicer, Bambu Studio, Cura, PrusaSlicer
8 articles
HMS, MINTEMP, thermal runaway, homing failed
All error codes →
Error codes
HMS 0700-7000-0002-0007: AMS filament ran out
A slot emptied mid-print. Load a new spool in the same slot and resume — the sequence matters.
HMS 0300-2000-0001-0003: X axis homing abnormal, timing belt loose
The belt is slipping teeth under acceleration. Tension it correctly — and correctly does not mean tight.
HMS 0700-7000-0002-0001: failed to pull filament out of the extruder
Unloading failed. The filament is gripped by something — a clog, a cold hotend, or a mushroomed tip.
HMS 0500-0300-0001-0001: MC module malfunctioning
The motion control board stopped answering. Restart first, then look at the cable that carries the link.
HMS 0C00-0100-0002-0008: Live View camera image failed
The camera stopped delivering frames, so spaghetti detection is off. Printing continues, but unmonitored.
HMS 0700-2000-0002-0004: filament broken in the toolhead
A piece of filament snapped off and stayed behind. It has to come out before anything else will load.
HMS 0700-4000-0002-0001: AMS filament buffer signal lost
The buffer that keeps filament tension no longer reports its position. Cable, sensor, or a spring stuck at one end.
HMS 0300-0D00-0002-0001: heatbed homing abnormal
The bed probe got an inconsistent reading. A dirty nozzle tip is the cause far more often than a warped plate.
HMS 0300-3100-0001-0001: part cooling fan too slow or stopped
The part fan is not spinning at the commanded speed. Debris in the blades and packed dust are the usual reasons.
HMS 0300-2000-0001-0001: X-axis homing abnormal
The toolhead did not reach the home position when told to. Something is in its way or the rail has gone stiff.
HMS 0300-0100-0001-0007: heatbed sensor open circuit
The bed thermistor is reading as disconnected. Nearly always the connector, occasionally the cable, rarely the sensor.
HMS 0300-0200-0001-0003: nozzle heater over temperature
The hotend went past its safe ceiling. Treat this as a real fault, not a nuisance warning.
Z offset, flow, pressure advance, input shaper
All calibration →
Calibration
Temps, drying, enclosures, PLA vs PETG vs ASA
All filament →
Filament
ASA vs ABS for outdoor parts
Both warp and both need an enclosure. ASA survives sunlight; ABS yellows and goes brittle.
Drying filament: times, temperatures and when it matters
Nylon and TPU are not optional. PLA usually is. The symptoms tell you before the print does.
PLA vs PETG: which one for this part
PLA for looks and dimensional accuracy. PETG for anything that lives outdoors, gets warm, or has to flex.
Nozzles, plates, hotends — and what fits what
All parts & fit →
Parts & fit
OrcaSlicer, Bambu Studio, Cura, PrusaSlicer
All slicer →