What do you do when you are trying to run a 3D print and it just doesn’t come out right? Undoubtedly, you’ll have faced a situation where your prints come out skewed, with a rough surface finish, with blobs or with plenty of stringing.

You have been tweaking your slicer settings for hours, wasted meters of filament and gotten to the point where you become quite desperate. Don’t despair, help is within reach!

The good news is, if you have a problem there is likely someone who had the same problem before. Even better, they may have the solution as well. Thankfully, several enthusiasts have compiled excellent 3D printing troubleshooting guides. I have resorted to these many times when trying to dial in a new printer or when trying to get rid of a particular nagging issue.

The Print Quality Troubleshooting Guide by Simplify3D is my go-to place when trying to hunt down 3D printing problems. Compiled by the makers of the Simplify3D slicer, this easy-to-navigate guide has a comprehensive library of solutions for the most common 3D printing issues.

The well-photographed pictures let you quickly identify the problem that you are facing. Drilling deeper, you’ll find step-by-step instructions and software settings to improve your prints.

Note: some of the suggested software settings pertain only to the Simplify3D slicer and cannot be replicated in other slicing software. Still, most of the suggested solutions are universal and in my opinion this is currently the best 3D printing troubleshooting guide out there.