Nearly every 3D printer user has encountered the dreaded elephant foot. Two common causes of this problem—high temperatures or inaccurate nozzle calibration—offer multiple solutions. Especially for first-timers, the 3D printing elephant foot problem can have a major effect on print quality. If you’re familiar with the 3D printing elephant foot issues and how to avoid it, you can make far more precise and aesthetically pleasing parts. This tutorial will walk you through the process of identifying 3D printing elephant foot, as well as its causes and possible solutions.
What Is Elephant Foot?
Elephant Foot is a fitting name for this 3D printing flaw, which manifests as the first layer that protrudes from the object. Elephant Foot is less obvious than other 3D printing issues, yet it can still be ugly.
When a 3D printing model requires extremely precise tolerance, it becomes a major headache. When it comes to practical or intended-to-be-used items, this is usually the case.
It may take a while to notice Elephant Foot, even though it shows up on the top layer. Sometimes, the Elephant Foot is a result of the extra weight of the upper layers pressing down on the foot. Since you have already used up a lot of filament to identify the issue, it becomes even more challenging.
Making an elephant’s foot out of 3D printed parts is a very small issue when compared to others. Because it is resolvable during post-processing, it does not significantly alter the visual quality of the base model. This is something you just cannot afford to ignore, particularly if you have an obsession with detail.
What Makes 3D Prints Fail Due to Elephant Foot?
1. High temperatures on the print bed
Overheating the print bed is a common reason for problems with elephant foot 3D prints. This heat, which is essential for the initial layer adhesion, might keep the lower layers semi-melted, causing them to spread out under the weight of the upper layers.
Inadequate temperature regulation and inaccurate bed leveling
Improper bed leveling and insufficient cooling from the printer’s fan might make the elephant foot problem worse. Contributing to the issue is positioning the nozzle too near to the bed, which can lead to an excessive squishing of the material.
2. Design and Environmental Considerations
considerations such as environmental considerations, item design, and high infill densities—which can cause internal tension and unequal cooling rates—also play a role.
3. Overlapping Filament in the Initial Layer
Sometimes, there’s just too much material in the initial layer, which causes it to bulge. It is possible for some filament to protrude from the side of the printer when the nozzle extrudes more material than is required for the initial layer. All it takes to make an elephant foot look like this is this.
4. Excessive Nozzle Compression
Excess compression does not necessarily originate in the upper layers. Inadequate bed levelling or an incorrect Z-offset setting are likely causes of the nozzle pressing down on the material if the base layer flares out early on.
How to Fix Elephant Foot 3D Printing?
1. Levelling the Bed
The first and most basic step in 3D printing an elephant foot is ensuring that your bed is perfectly flat. Things you ought to be performing anyhow as part of your standard 3D printing procedure.
The purpose of bed levelling is to maintain a constant distance between the print bed and the nozzle. Adjusting the nozzle Z-offset is now a breeze with this. Improved bed adherence and layer cooling are two additional benefits of this treatment beyond its ability to ward off elephant foot.
Automatic bed levelling is a feature that comes with several 3D printers. Assuming this to be true, there’s really no good reason not to run it prior to beginning any 3D printing project. This function is accessible on a wide range of modern 3D printers, including both consumer and educational models.
Manually levelling the bed is an option if your 3D printer does not have this feature. The four screws on the underside of the bed allow you to modify the height.
You can create a temporary “feeler gauge” by inserting a piece of cardboard or paper between the print bed and the nozzle. Insert this feeler gauge between the print bed and nozzle at different positions, adjusting the screws as needed. It won’t take more than five minutes of your time and is really simple.levelling the bed
2. Lower the Temperature of the Heated Bed
There are benefits to using a heated bed for adhesion, but there are also potential drawbacks to using it incorrectly. If the elephant’s foot is getting too hot while lying in the heated bed, it’s a red flag.
The filament cannot become more rigid and acquire strength if the bed temperature is too high. As soon as it has to support the weight of the model’s upper layer, it is more likely to distort into an elephant foot. Even worsening conditions for the elephant foot could be visible as the 3D printing process continues.
Find out what the filament’s ideal bed temperature is before you do anything else. Keep your work within this range at all times. Reduce the bed temperature in increments of 5 °C if there is some wiggle space. If this is the main issue, then even a little drop in temperature should make a big difference.
Ignoring problems with bed adhesion or warping doesn’t mean you can’t test temperatures lower than what your filament suggests. You may want to try something else if this doesn’t work on your elephant foot.
3. Include Raft in Your Model
Avoiding elephant foot is easier with a raft print. Slicer software makes it easy to create.
Printed directly beneath your model’s base layer is a raft, which is an additional layer of filament. It is a protective layer that, if the first layer were to make a mistake, would be far less noticeable.
As a final option, printing with a raft is one of the most common 3D printing challenges. If you’re planning to 3D print a lot of models, a raft isn’t the best choice because it might use a lot of filament, which means more waste.
A raft’s primary function is to prevent bed warping and improve adhesion. Here, the raft serves as a safety net to absorb any possible Elephant’s Foot mistake. It is possible to separate the printed part from the raft after printing is complete. This ensures that the basic layer of the model retains its appearance.
Raft printing misses the mark when it comes to fixing elephant foot defects. If adjusting your printer’s preferences takes too much time, this is still a viable alternative. Sustainable alternatives, on the other hand, do not involve printing on a raft.
4. Make Printing With Chamfers Easier
Consider adding a chamfer to the model’s base layer instead of printing it. This is a solution that is not like the others.
To create the chamfer, just add a 45-degree slope to the first layers of the model. This effectively reduces the width of the model’s foundation layer. The plan is to let the base layer swell until it’s the perfect size.
Because it keeps the print from crumbling even with thinner foundation layers, a 45-degree slant is perfect for this method. When printing features with a hanging element, this is a tried and true way.
One benefit is that it requires no additional filament. The use of less filament is possible as a result of printing with smaller layers, albeit the savings will be tiny.
But figuring out how much the base layer will expand will require some trial and error. A good rule of thumb is to keep the chamfer to no more than two or three layers, or one millimetre in height.
5. Adjust Z-offset
Too much compression of the filament material on the base layer is a common cause of elephant foot. This has the potential to make the filament flare out, giving it the distinctive elephant foot shape.
You might have to raise the nozzle Z-offset if lowering the bed temperature doesn’t fix it. The Z-offset is a crucial parameter for controlling bed adhesion and extrusion quality since it establishes the height of the nozzle in relation to the print bed.
While applying downward pressure to the filament with a small Z-offset helps with bed adhesion, doing so to an extreme degree can cause the filament to distort. If the problem persists, try increasing the Z-offset setting by 0.1 mm increments.
Be aware that other issues, most commonly poor bed adhesion, can arise as a result of raising the Z-offset. The foundation layer may get distorted or even lift off as a result of this.
In such a case, you might have to rethink your approach to resolving the bed adhesion issue. Some viable alternatives include printing with a skirt, printing at higher temperatures, or switching adhesives. Solving one problem in 3D printing might sometimes lead to the worsening of another.
6. Sanding
You can physically remove an elephant foot by using sandpaper. Sanding is a typical post-processing procedure that can successfully minimise the appearance of elephant foot on a printed item. Sanding is a process that uses abrasive materials, such as sandpaper, to level up the print’s uneven bottom layers. The easiest way to remove the elephant foot is to begin with a lower grit of sandpaper, like 100 grit, which is harsher. After that, to get a smooth finish, work your way up to finer grit sandpapers, starting with 400 and working your way up to 800.
7. Filing
To remove the elephant foot more aggressively, particularly bigger prints or prints created from harder materials, you can utilise a file. It is critical to keep the filing angle and pressure constant so as not to produce additional abnormalities. There is a wide range of file sizes and coarseness levels available; picking the correct one will depend on your requirements.
8. Chemical Smoothing
An improved method for removing elephant foot and improving a print’s overall finish is chemical smoothing. This method uses a solvent to slightly dissolve the print surface, making any defects disappear. For ABS prints, you can use acetone, and for PLA prints, you can use a combination of 91% isopropyl alcohol and salt.
While chemical smoothing does provide a flat surface, it is not the most precise method for eliminating elephant foot. Avoid using vapour smoothing, which will also remove material from the undamaged parts, and instead apply the solvent by hand to the protruding areas using a rag.
Having looked at how to fix elephant foot issues in 3D prints, it’s also important to have a look at the best 3D printing software. There are several available but we recommend using SelfCAD. SelfCAD is an easy to use 3D design software that comes with 3D modeling, and even 3D printing tools all under one program. The in-built online slicer of the software is easy to use and it is compatible with most of the common FDM 3D printers.
Conclusion
Although 3D printing has numerous benefits, it does have certain drawbacks, such as the elephant foot anomalies. This prevalent flaw has the potential to greatly impact the print’s precision and visual appeal. It is not, however, an impossible task to solve. You can reduce or even eliminate the occurrence of elephant foot by precisely calibrating and adjusting the slicer parameters. If you want to fix the print quality issues caused by this phenomena, you can use post-processing techniques. To achieve the best possible outcomes, it is essential to comprehend these tactics.
