I've had this on my wish list for a while, and received it as a Christmas gift this year. I wanted the full paperback edition as something which can be quickly and easily referred to whenever needed, rather than having to load up an e-book with their restricted view.
Let's look at the "good" first, because the good far outweighs the bad.
The good is that this book is the outpourings of an obviously very experienced practitioner, far more experienced with a wide range of hardware and materials than I am ever likely to be. Where his experience overlaps with mine, I am pleased to say it pretty much echoes my own, therefore the entire work can be considered trustworthy until proven otherwise.
The book certainly highlights what I have previously discovered myself and commented on: that FDM printing is at least as much an art as a science, in as much as the slightest variation in material properties, printing conditions (including environment), slicer settings (and the slicer software), and even the model design, can make substantial differences to the success of a print. The primary intention of the book seems to be to draw attention to the multiplicity of factors and hint at solutions (or at least things to try), but I have to say that the number of variables means the typical hobbyist is unlikely to exercise more than a few and will not stray far from the presets.
Of more use are the explanations of mechanical flaws in the printer itself, especially where the user can intervene by appropriate maintenance – which printer suppliers seem to neglect in their user guides. That said, it all seems fairly logical and obvious to somebody with an engineering background, which highlights that 3D printing remains an enthusiasts arena and not really suitable for the general public.
Now the bad. The first is that there is a chapter on materials (ie printing filament) provided by a major brand. Although interesting, this smacks of marketing and product placement, and I have no measure of how authoritative the information is. It goes into some detail about how warping is due to crystallisation and how polymers cross-link, but in my opinion none of this matters even if it's true – the practical outcome is differential shrinkage, and it is the shrinkage which creates the tension that breaks the adhesion with the bed (or support, or inter-layer) resulting in delamination and warp. It is easy to understand that materials shrink when they cool. I'm not saying this is definitely the case, but it could be that the brand is making unsubstantiated claims how their processing technology (and therefore highly expensive materials) might minimise warp and therefore make a successful print more likely. [I have a difficult test case if they want to supply me a reel for testing and review!]
The other "bad" on my list is that this book is in desperate need of an editor. It does not read like a book, it reads as a transcript of a lecture or talk (or YouTube video), and I wonder whether that is precisely how this book was written: using speech recognition. There is a great deal of repetition (there is a need to repeat points when spoken that is unnecessary written down), and much phrasing which can be got away with in informal spoken language but is inappropriate in formal written English (eg the frequent use of "off of" instead of "from" or "on" according to context – that is but one example of many).
Also, whoever typeset it (ie prepared the text for printing) is unfamiliar with even basic word-processor/DTP text flow settings, so there are many instances of a heading appearing on one page and the associated text on another, or widowed/orphaned paragraph lines (single lines of a paragraph appearing on the next or previous page than the rest of the paragraph). This should be child's play. The text is also printed very large, far larger than necessary (I guess that's good for the visually impaired, but how many of those will be diagnosing FDM print failures?).
These stylistic things are important – they make the book a less enjoyable read than it could be, larger than it needs to be (hence more expensive to produce), and therefore less value for its considerable price.
Ignore that, and the book contains valuable information, particularly for those moving from "beginner" to "improver" in FDM printing. Note that SLA is mentioned, but you wouldn't want to buy this book if you are into SLA rather than FDM. My recommendation is to settle for the e-book version until a new edition is properly edited and typeset.
Book Review: '3D Printing Failures' by Sean Aranda (2022 edition)
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