Be sure your printer is set to use the proper powder settings as stated above. Saturation levels sometimes need to be adjusted to accomodate for whats being printed, (however rarely), i.e. fine detailed parts may need the levels decreased for added strength, as the less water added to a cementitious material the stronger the material will cure, (but not always).  

     Some parts will print better with a slightly elevated saturation level. Turning off the ‘Bleed Compensation’ setting also makes for slightly stronger parts, but there may be a trade off in the parts detail. At times experimentation is necessary.  

     It also helps to know exactly where the part is located in the build area when vacuuming. If possible orientate your computers screen with the part visible in Z Print, or print it out on paper,  so that you can occasionally glance over at it while your vacuuming out the powder around the part. This helps to ensure you do not inadvertently vacuum up small detailed parts of the print.

     There are many little tricks to those familiar in the art, that can help you print like a master. For instance we’ve been known to modify our vacuum attachment so that the opening is smaller which results in a much finer control of the amount of powder being sucked up in a smaller area. Or raising the build table all the way up so that you can vacuum form the sides of the model as well from the top. And lets not forget that custom made spatula we use to scoop parts out of the bed after vacuuming.

     Use the Zprint built in features such as creating a ‘Make Witness Part’ or ‘Make Fixture’, and ‘Make Solid’.

     Verifying a parts structural integrity in Z Edit or the free program NetFab is also a good idea before printing.

     A removable, (we JB Welded Neodymium hard drive magnets to the bottom of our build plate), build plate which can easily be made is priceless when extracting delicate parts.  

DEBRIS FILTERS

     Download our DEBRIS FILTER if you do not yet have a dehumidifier and your machine is having problems with vacuuming our powder due to high humidity. This file can be printed on your printer,. When printing this part in powder, be sure to infiltrate the part with ARMOR-BOND to make it strong enough.    After you have printed the filter and it is dry, using the plastic filter plate, mark your printed filter where the appropriate holes need to be drilled. Buy the appropriate sized nuts to screw onto the stock bolts at your local hardware store.   

DETAILED MODELS

     If your having trouble extracting very small, fine detailed parts from the build area, try  re-orientating the part in the build area so that it is printed at different angle, i.e. tilting the part 45 degrees can result in a stronger print. Also leaving it in the bed longer allows for greater strength as the print gets harder the longer it dries. If your machine has the built-in heating feature, preheat the build area before printing.