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The plastic that exits your extruder may be anywhere from 190 to 240 degrees Celsius. While the plastic is still hot, it is pliable and can easily be formed into different shapes. However, as it cools, it quickly becomes solid and retains its shape. You need to achieve the correct balance between temperature and cooling so that your plastic can flow freely through the nozzle, but it can quickly solidify to maintain the exact dimensions of your 3D printed part. The section below will examine several common causes for overheating and how to prevent them.

The most common cause for overheating is that the plastic is not being cooled fast enough. When this happens, the hot plastic is free to change shapes as it slowly cools. For many plastics, it is much better to quickly cool the layers to prevent them from changing shape after being printed. If your printer includes a cooling fan, try increasing the power of the fan to cool the plastic faster.

2. Printing at too high of a temperature

Try lowering the print temperature by 5-10 degrees to see if it helps.​

3. Printing too fast

If you are printing each layer very quickly, you might not allow enough time for the previous layer to properly cool before you are trying to deposit the next layer of hot plastic on top of it.​

4. When all else fails

If you have already tried the 3 items above and you are still having trouble achieving sufficient cooling, just open the front door to cool the chamber.

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