material: PLA

geometry_type: stringing

lesson: PLA strung at 215C in moderate humidity. Dropping nozzle to ~200C and nudging retraction up cleared it. With PLA, temperature is usually the bigger lever than retraction distance.

source: seed


lesson: High ambient humidity made PLA string even at a sane 205C. Settings tweaks did little; the real fix was drying the filament. Above ~60% humidity, suspect moisture before chasing retraction.


geometry_type: overhang

outcome: success

lesson: Steep PLA overhang printed clean with cooling fan at 100%. PLA likes maximum cooling on overhangs to freeze the layer before it droops.


lesson: PLA overhang sagged in a warm room even at full fan. Warm ambient air weakens part cooling; on hot days drop a few degrees and ensure unobstructed airflow, or add support past ~50 degrees of overhang.


geometry_type: bridge

lesson: Short PLA bridge under ~50mm printed flat with full cooling and slightly increased bridge flow. Max fan plus brisk bridge speed is the reliable combo for PLA spans.


geometry_type: adhesion

lesson: First layer wouldn't stick in a cold room. Bumping bed to ~60C, slowing the first layer, and turning the fan off for the opening layers fixed adhesion. Cold ambient hurts first-layer bonding most.


material: PETG

lesson: PETG strung badly at 245C. Lowering to ~232C, raising travel speed, and enabling wipe-before-travel cleaned it up. PETG strings more than PLA by nature, so live at the low end of its temp range.


lesson: PETG is hygroscopic and strung heavily in humid air despite good settings. Drying the spool was the only durable fix. Above ~60% humidity, dry PETG first and treat settings as secondary.


lesson: PETG overhang drooped when I ran the fan low for strength. PETG needs a cooling compromise: ~30-50% fan generally, bumped to 60-70% specifically over overhangs and bridges.


lesson: PETG layers came out brittle with the fan too high. Dropping cooling to ~30% and raising temp 5C restored layer bonding. Over-cooling PETG causes delamination; it is the opposite of PLA.


lesson: PETG bridge held by temporarily raising fan to ~70% for the span only, then returning to 40%. Targeted cooling bursts beat globally high fan, which would weaken the rest of the part.


lesson: Clean PETG print at 230C with gentle retraction (moderate distance, ~40mm/s) in dry conditions. PETG stays molten longer than PLA, so gentle retraction plus fast travel beats aggressive retraction, which clogs.