Field Notes
Diagnosing print failures other guides get wrong — pressure advance, heat creep, wet filament, and more.
Undersized Holes Aren't One Error — They're Three Stacked
A hole that prints 0.2 mm small is rarely one problem. Mesh facets, bead squish and shrinkage each take a bite, and a single slicer slider o…
Oct 3, 2026 · 6 min read
Infill Percentage Isn't a Strength Setting — Wall Count Is
More infill doesn't fix a part that broke at a screw hole — the walls were carrying that load, not the interior lattice. Here's when wall co…
Sep 26, 2026 · 7 min read
Weak Layer Adhesion Isn't a Temperature Problem — It's a Time Problem
Snapped a part at a layer line and raised nozzle temperature to fix it? That only gets you partway. Z-strength is set by the weld window — h…
Sep 19, 2026 · 7 min read
Annealing 3D Prints: Which Materials Actually Benefit (and How Not to Warp Them Doing It)
Annealing raises heat resistance and layer strength in FDM parts, but the temperature and constraint method have to match the polymer or you…
Sep 12, 2026 · 6 min read
Elephant's Foot Isn't Cosmetic — It's a Tolerance Problem
Elephant's foot — the flared base on a first layer — isn't a cosmetic defect, it's a measurable dimensional error at the exact spot most par…
Sep 5, 2026 · 6 min read
Corner Lift Isn't an Adhesion Problem — It's Shrinkage
Corner lift in ABS, ASA, PC, and nylon prints isn't an adhesion failure — it's differential shrinkage pulling the part off the bed as the to…
Aug 29, 2026 · 6 min read
Your Nozzle Is Wearing Out — And Your Tolerances Are Paying For It
Nozzle wear is a slow, silent process that shifts part dimensions long before anyone thinks to blame the nozzle. Carbon and glass fiber fila…
Aug 22, 2026 · 7 min read
PCTG-CF Outside: What It Handles, and Where ASA Takes Over
PCTG-CF gets called "UV-stable" a lot, including on DuffAM's own homepage — but that's not the same as sun-proof. Here's the honest range: w…
Aug 18, 2026 · 6 min read
The Default Settings Would Have Shipped This Looking Like a Woodcut
Before a custom photo lithophane ever went up for sale, it went through four real passes on the same print — default settings, machine calib…
Aug 16, 2026 · 6 min read
FDM vs. Resin vs. SLS: When Each One Actually Makes Sense
DuffAM prints FDM. That's the honest starting point for this guide — because sometimes FDM is exactly right, and sometimes it isn't, and you…
Aug 15, 2026 · 7 min read
Extruder Clicking Isn't One Problem — It's Five
Extruder clicking gets blamed on clogs by default, but it has at least five distinct causes — flow-rate mismatch, partial clogs, heat creep,…
Aug 15, 2026 · 6 min read
11 Materials, One Honest Guide: PLA to PPS-CF
Every filament spec sheet reads the same way: strong, durable, easy to print. Here's the honest version — eleven materials, what each is act…
Aug 14, 2026 · 12 min read
Z Banding Isn't a Belt Problem
Z banding gets blamed on belts and retensioning when the real cause is almost always the lead screw, coupler, or Z motor driver.
Aug 13, 2026
Your Bed Isn't Warped — It's Doming
Cold leveling and even early hot mesh probes miss the dome a thin spring-steel sheet takes once fully heat-soaked.
Aug 13, 2026
Why Tightening Your Belts Doesn't Fix Layer Shift
Layer shift shows up and the forums say check belt tension — often it's a slipping pulley, a heat-soaked stepper driver, a dry rail, or acce…
Aug 13, 2026
Your Printer Isn't Slow — Your Hotend Is Starving
Why high-speed printing looks worse after all your calibrations — and the one number you need to fix it. Learn how volumetric flow rate limi…
Aug 11, 2026 · 5 min read
Your Filament Is Wet — and You Don't Know It
Stringing, blobs, weak layers, popping sounds from the hotend — you've adjusted retraction, swapped the nozzle, and re-leveled the bed. The.
Aug 11, 2026 · 5 min read
Pressure Advance: The Setting Your Slicer Can't Set For You
Pressure Advance compensates for the physics of pressurized molten plastic in your hotend. Here's why it's per-filament, per-temperature, an…
Aug 11, 2026 · 5 min read
One of These Isn't Ringing
Ran input shaping and the wavy wall's still there? It might not be ringing. Here's how to tell ringing apart from VFA, Z-banding, and salmon…
Aug 11, 2026 · 4 min read
Heat Creep: the clog that's not a clog
Your extruder starts clicking four hours into a long print, the nozzle pulls clean, and you spend the next week drying filament that wasn't.
Aug 11, 2026 · 4 min read