It’s happened to the best of us, either a project just had too many things go wrong and build up and the deadline is next week, or it fell in your lap and it needs to get done yesterday. Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay. Armed with the advice presented in this video, you should have a new set of tools to better equip you against the next crunched project. Let’s jump right into it!

Slice Settings and Hardware Tweaks

The first thing you can do to try and get ahead is swap out your stock nozzle with a 0.8mm nozzle or printcore. The orifice size of a nozzle is the limiting factor in how tall your layer height can be, and the layer height is going to be the most significant factor for print time. By changing to a 0.8mm nozzle from a 0.4mm nozzle, your maximum layer height increases from 0.3mm to 0.6mm. With a layer height of 0.6mm, you will need to adjust your print temperature and print speed to give the heater block more time to heat up all the filament it needs to extrude.

A larger nozzle can significantly shorten the time it takes to 3D print a model.
A larger nozzle can significantly shorten the time it takes to 3D print a model.

Generally, most stock print settings are around 200°C and 45mm/s for PLA with a 0.4mm nozzle, but with a 0.8mm, you may need to change things up to 240°C and as slow as 30mm/s to be able to extrude reliably. Another factor to consider playing around with is infill percentage and perimeter count. If it’s not structural and just needs to look good, 10% infill and 2 perimeters is just fine to make sure that top layers look good and the part has enough structural integrity. Keep in mind that you will have significantly thicker layer striations so it may require a bit more elbow grease if you intend to post-process.

In order to heat up significantly more plastic than normal, you need to significantly raise the temperature for prints even if they're in the same material as before.
In order to heat up significantly more plastic than normal, you need to significantly raise the temperature for prints even if they're in the same material as before.

Stocking Up and Preparing Filament

Make sure you have more than enough material to get the project done. It’s all too easy to be halfway through a print project and realize you don’t have enough material to finish it. Take a look at your inventory at the start of your project and determine if you have enough to last the entire time, and if you don’t, well good news: MatterHackers offers fast and free shipping on all US orders. If your supply is good, make sure that you have prepared it for printing by drying it out first (if necessary). Some materials like PETG, nylon, or TPU are hygroscopic which means they absorb water from the air. This will negatively affect the appearance of a finished printed part and its structural integrity, so make sure it’s well dried out first. The easiest solution is to set up and use a PrintDry before and during print jobs.

A PrintDry will dry out and remove the moisture from any hygroscopic filament.
A PrintDry will dry out and remove the moisture from any hygroscopic filament.

Organization

While not necessary during normal use, in crunch time it becomes more necessary to use printer time most efficiently. Having a spreadsheet with all the printed parts listed out and their statistics (like estimated print time and material usage) will make it easier to plan out the order to print parts and let you see if your current settings won’t be enough to finish in time and give you the forewarning to make the adjustments you need. This way you’ll have a general feeling for when you will need to swap from one spool to the next, and by having the print times listed you can schedule out the different parts to different printers. The general idea is to print the short prints first, and then the long prints when you are away from the printer; print the 2 or 3 hour prints while you are next to your printer, but before you leave the office or go to bed, start the 8 hour print, that way your printer spends the least amount of time idle.

I'm very fond of using spreadsheets to keep projects neat and organized and to prevent me from accidentally printing the same model twice.
I'm very fond of using spreadsheets to keep projects neat and organized and to prevent me from accidentally printing the same model twice.

Things to Lookout For

Before you start printing, you need to make sure that all maintenance is performed and everything is ready to run without issue to minimize the chance of a print failure; the last thing you need is a blob containing your hotend and putting your printer out of commission until repair parts arrive. Clean off any bed adhesive you have and refresh it. I find that if I’ve had PVA glue stick on the bed for too long it will lose its ability to grip prints. Or if you know that this material you’ve printed with in the past has had issue with sticking, make sure to use enough adhesive to ensure it sticks down.

The last thing you need is for a print to warp off the bed because you didn't apply enough adhesive to the bed surface.
The last thing you need is for a print to warp off the bed because you didn't apply enough adhesive to the bed surface.

While the likelihood of it causing issue is low, I have had scrap filament around my printer catch and jam the belt causing it to layer shift and ruin the print. Cleaning up the printer of any debris and lubricating the three axis to make sure the printer moves smoothly is important for minimizing any layer shifts. Check your spool before printing that it isn’t tangled. Even though I am well versed in proper filament management, it’s easy to grab a spool of filament that someone else used and find they weren’t as careful as you were and unintentionally tangled it.

A tangle could turn what would otherwise be a fantastic print into a waste of time. Take the time to make sure your filament is tangle-free.
A tangle could turn what would otherwise be a fantastic print into a waste of time. Take the time to make sure your filament is tangle-free.

The final thing is make sure the bed is level. You don’t want to be ten hours into a print and notice that the back corner started lifting and you didn’t see it happen. Run through any bed leveling wizards or procedures for your 3D printer and if you have time, run a quick test to make sure that the bed is level and that you get a good uniform squish for your first layer. If your printer features some way to manually adjust the first layer during a print using baby stepping or some bed leveling knobs, then keep an eye on the skirt, brim, or entire first layer and adjust it to get the optimum first layer for your best chance at success.

Whether you're using a 3D printer with bed knobs or have some form of automatic bed leveling sensor, you want to make sure you get just the right amount of squish for the first layer.
Whether you're using a 3D printer with bed knobs or have some form of automatic bed leveling sensor, you want to make sure you get just the right amount of squish for the first layer.

Crunch time isn’t something most people enjoy, but hopefully with these tips combined you should be able to handle any sort of project that comes your way and be better prepared to identify how attainable of a goal it is. Best of luck with your project.

Happy printing!