Why Are Bottom of 3D Prints Distorted?

1. What’s Wrong with My 3D Print?

When inspecting your 3D print, you notice that the bottom area seems to be distorted on the sharp corners or the entire surface. Though the 3D print has successfully attached itself to the supports, the parts in between the supports become wrapped. Let’s discover the causes of this printing issue and how to avoid it.

2. What Causes the Printing Issue?

Bottom distortion usually occurs on prints with a flat bottom surface. The primary reason for this is that the first few printed layers cannot withstand the pulling force when being released from the FEP or PFA (nFEP) film.

3. Troubleshooting the Printing Issue

In order to resolve the bottom-distorting issue, we need to make some adjustments on model orientation and support settings. 

Adjusting model orientation

• Rotate the 3D model on both the X-axis and Y-axis at around 15 degrees.
• DO NOT set supports in a line (see below photo)

Adjusting support settings

• Increase support density and upper diameter (for detailed suggestions, please refer to this article) 
• Choose “Skate” as “Connection Shape” for the first supports and place them at the corner (see below photo)

Check out our Official Resin Profile and make sure you have dialled in the exposure time and lift height correctly. Light-off delay time is essential in resin 3D printing. With the correct settings, each layer will be printed in a much more stable manner, resulting in better quality 3D prints. Please refer to this article to learn more about Light-Off Delay.

Contact Support

By following the above suggestions, you can resolve the bottom-distorting issue. If you find any issues, feel free to reach out to Phrozen Support or your Authorized Reseller for further assistance. When contacting Phrozen Support, kindly send some photos or videos illustrating the issue.