Support – Polaroid PlaySmart

To unload the filament from the printer, please select ‘Filament’ and then ‘Unload’ on the LCD.
If this does not successfully unload the filament, please carefully remove the plastic tubing from the top of the push-fitting on top of the printhead (to do this, push the push-fitting downwards whilst gently pulling the tube upwards).
Once the plastic tubing has been removed, please follow the ‘Unload’ process again to retract the filament, whilst gently pulling the filament (by hand) from the top of the printhead. Try this process a maximum of two times should the first time be unsuccessful.
If the second retraction still hasn’t freed the filament, please follow the ‘Load’ processinstead. This will start the extrusion process (rather than retraction)  will hopefullyloosen and free the filament.
Once you see filament being extruded (please only try this process a maximum of two times), please try the retraction process once again. The filament should now be loose and unload successfully.

If the nozzle is completely blocked (i.e. no filament is being extruded at all), please go through the ‘Replace Nozzle’ instructions that can be found within the settings on the LCD Screen.. Occasionally though the filament may get partially blocked within the nozzle (filament is still coming through but not a full or constant flow). If this does happen, please heat up the nozzle to the maximum temperature (you can do this by pressing the Nozzle icon on the LCD screen, setting the temperature as high as it will go (using the ‘+’ button) and then pressing the Tick icon to turn it green), and then push the filament through manually from the top of the print head. To do this please ensure that the PTFE tube is removed at the print head and extruder and you have sufficient filament pulled through from the extruder to allow you to manually push through into the printhead. This should flush the nozzle clear of any partial blockages.

If you are trying to print but your print bed doesn’t seem to be heating, please turn off your printer, disconnect the cable from the back of the print bed, and leave for a minimum of 30 seconds before reconnecting and turning your printer back on. This time the bed should heat correctly.
If this does not solve the problem, please contact our team via polaroid3d.com/contact and they will guide you through a solution.

Please get in touch with one of our team via polaroid3d.com/contact and let us know what is missing or damaged. Please note that you will need to provide us with your serial number and proof of purchase for the printer so that we can follow this up for you.

If you are seeing a slight warping across the base of your model when completed, (meaning that the model you have printed does not sit flat) please firstly double check your settings when saving your print file and ensure that you have selected the correct print material when saving the file as this will ensure that the extruder is heated to the correct temperature.
If you have confirmed that your settings are correct and you are still experiencing some warping, then please check that you have the ‘brim’ function selected within the Advanced Settings within Polaroid SmartPrep (note that this is selected as the default in the software).
This will print a small amount of filament as a ‘brim’ around the external diameter of your model. The purpose of this is to retain heat at the base of the model to allow the filament to adhere to the bed and remain at a temperature that means it will not contract too quickly (which causes the warping) while the remaining print is completed.
A brim is especially recommended for models with large, flat bases where a large quantity of material is placed down at the start of a print and the level nature of the bottom of the model is particularly important.

If printing with a brim, the brim must be included within the maximum print area. This will mean that your model must be slightly smaller than the print area to allow for the brim.
Please note that the brim itself needs 5mm around the entire perimeter of your model so please reduce any model that is the maximum print size by this amount on each side.

The printer will continue printing until it has finished the last command it has received, which may include several movements of the printhead. Once it has completed this set of commands the printhead will stop and the bed will lower slightly and the head will move to the front left corner of the printer. Please do not reach into the printer until the head and bed have finished moving. Even then please be aware that the nozzle and print bed will still be very hot.

If this is happening it could mean that you need to readjust the bed levelling and/or nozzle calibration. You can do this by selecting ‘Settings’ on the LCD and then following the ‘Bed Levelling’ or ‘Print Bed Calibration’ processes. This will ensure that your bed is level before printing and that the nozzle is the correct distance from the print bed before printing.

As the nozzle and bed temperatures are pre-set in the Gcode when you sliced your model, you will need to allow the first few layers of your model to print before trying to adjust manually on the LCD screen. Trying to adjust too early will not take effect as the Gcode will simply override your changes. Once the first few layers have printed you may adjust via the LCD screen.

Please ensure that the metal connectors on the SD card are facing upwards as you insert it into the printer. If this does not resolve the problem, please contact the team at polaroid3d.com/contact.

Support structures can be important in 3D printing as the method of printing one layer on top of another means that if there is an overhang within the model (where the layer being printed has nothing underneath to rest on), then this can cause a print to fail.

To print with supports on the Polaroid PlaySmart is easy; you simply tick the box that says ‘Enable Supports’ when you click Print. This will turn on the default supports, which places them anywhere on your model that has an overhang that is more than 30° from the vertical.

If you wish to adjust some of the support settings yourself, then you can do so under the Advanced Settings. These include being able to adjust the type of support (default is line support, or if more support is needed you can change to a grid structure), and also adjusting what angle the supports will initially be applied from, as well as other more advanced settings.

The physical strength of PETG, once printed, is greater than PLA. If you are looking to print something that needs to be more durable and stronger then we recommend using PETG rather than PLA.

If you are looking to print models for outdoor use then we would recommend using PETG over PLA. PETG has a greater resistance to different weather conditions and especially lasts well in the sun as it has a higher melting temperature than PLA.

Further to this, PETG has a higher gloss finish than PLA and therefore we would recommend using PETG if you are looking for a smoother, glossier finish to your model.

PLA on the other hand is best used for printing more complex models; especially if there is a need for support structure (the support structure can then easily be removed). It also has the added benefits of being environmentally friendly (as it is made from corn starch), bio-degradable and completely recyclable.

Firstly please make sure that the heated print bed has completely cooled down – this should be below 25oC. You can see the current temperature on the LCD screen. Once the temperature has cooled to this level, you should easily be able to remove the model from the print bed. Occasionally however the model may be more difficult to remove. This could be caused by the calibration on your printer being quite tight – i.e. the nozzle is very close to the bed when it is printing. In order to readjust this, please follow the process via the LCD screen and increase the distance between the nozzle and the print bed.  This will mean that the material has slightly less adhesion to the glass meaning it should be easier to remove when completed and the bed has cooled. If using something to help to remove models from the print bed, please DO NOT use anything sharp or any kind of instrument that could damage the print bed, the model or cause injury to yourself or others.

If you are trying to print but no filament is being extruded, please follow the ‘Load’ process via the LCD screen. This will start the extrusion process and hopefully filament should be released from the nozzle.
Should this not resolve the problem, please carefully remove the plastic tubing from the top of the push-fitting on top of the printhead (to do this, push the push-fitting downwards whilst gently pulling the tube upwards).
Please then repeat the extrusion process as above, but this time gently apply pressure by pushing the filament downwards into the top of the printhead. This should then allow the filament to free-flow and extrude correctly.

Please allow the model to cool completely before trying to remove from the print bed. By doing so the model should release itself from the bed automatically as the filament cools down, allowing you to simply pick up the model from the bed. Please do not try to remove the model from the bed whilst the bed is still hot. The LCD screen will tell you the current temperature of the bed.

Before the Polaroid PlaySmart 3D printers are despatched to you, they undergo quality control testing to ensure that they are performing perfectly for you. Part of this test is to print a test model on the printer to confirm that the quality output matches our predetermined standard.
If you are seeing a small amount of a different colour filament extruded on the very first time you print with your printer it is because a different colour filament was used during this testing phase.
When loading your new filament, after the first section of extrusion you will be asked to either ‘Confirm’ or extrude ‘10mm more’. Select ‘10mm more’ until you no longer see the previous colour. Once your new colour is running through, please select ‘confirm’ on the LCD.
NOTE: Please follow this same process when changing colours or materials.

A brim can be used on any model. However, it is especially recommended when printing models with large, flat bases as this helps to retain heat around the base of the model whilst it completes printing, ensuring that it doesn’t cool too quickly as this is what could cause warping on your print.
If printing a model that has a complicated outline to it, a brim could be quite difficult to remove, particularly depending on the Print Bed Calibration. For example, if your nozzle is quite close to the bed then the filament will be more ‘squashed down’ when printing. This could mean that removing the brim may be more difficult. In order to adjust this, please print with a slightly increased gap between the nozzle and the print bed (but not too far that the first layer doesn’t adhere properly to the bed). This should make the connection
between the brim and the model less rigid and therefore easier to remove. This adjustment of the calibration is something that you will very quickly learn, including how and when to adjust based upon what you are printing.

Models with a large surface area can be more prone to warping due to the plastic cooling too quickly across the large base, and therefore contracting at the edges of the model. A brim is always recommended as the first possible solution to this but if you are finding that your models are still warping, despite using a brim, you could also try to reduce the amount of infill within your model. Reducing the infill means that less filament is being printed in each layer, allowing the print to cool at a more constant rate.

Do not worry if you hear a brief knocking sound when loading new filament, this is because the motor that pulls through the filament into the printhead runs at a slightly faster speed when loading filament than it does when printing therefore what you hear is the working of this motor.
Should this knocking sound continue whilst printing, please try unloading and reloading your filament, whilst gently applying pressure where the filament enters the push-fitting (see ‘I can’t get the printer to extrude filament’ for more information). This should enable the filament to flow freely from the nozzle. However, if you have tried this and are still hearing the same noise, please contact our team via polaroid3d.com/contact and they will guide you through a solution.

Polaroid SmartPrep is compatible with Windows 7, 8, 10 (not supported in S mode) and Mac OS 10.13 or later.

To load new filament, please follow the ‘Load’ process via the LCD screen. This will start the extrusion process and hopefully filament should be released from the nozzle.
Should this not be the case, please carefully remove the plastic tubing from the top of the push-fitting on top of the printhead (to do this, push the push-fitting downwards whilst gently pulling the tube upwards).
Please then repeat the extrusion process as above, but this time gently apply pressure by pushing the filament downwards into the top of the printhead. This should then allow the filament to free-flow and extrude correctly.
Should the above process not resolve the problem please contact our team via
polaroid3d.com/contact.

This could be happening because of the contraction of the material as it cools. Because the model you are trying to print is V-Shaped, as it contracts it may bend inwards slightly at the top. This bend actually means that the model is actually slightly taller than it should be and therefore it could cause the nozzle to catch as it passes the top of the model. If this is the case then it could cause the model to fail.
If this happens then please try adjusting the layer height when slicing. This should give you a larger gap between the top of your model and the nozzle, allowing for free pass of the nozzle as it moves over the top of the printed model.

Colour and material type can sometimes have an effect on the finished prints. Occasionally, transparent filament can, on certain model designs, make the finished prints slightly more brittle (especially if the model design includes a rounded curve). One way to resolve this is to increase both the infill and shell thickness of their models. You can do both of these things in the Polaroid SmartPrep software. With the model showing in a printable position on the print bed, click  on ‘Print’, and access the Advanced Settings. Once in Advanced Settings, increase both the ‘Shell Thickness’ and ‘Fill Density’ using the sliding scale functions. This will make the prints slightly longer but will increase the strength of the finished model and should negate the brittle effect that can occasionally occur when printing with transparent filament.

Please also make sure that you are storing your filaments correctly. For further information on how to store your filament cartridges correctly, please see the FAQ ‘How should I store my Polaroid Universal Filament Cartridges’

To avoid your filament cartridge being exposed to and contaminated by humidity and moisture, please ensure that once opened and whilst not in use, the filament cartridge is stored in a sealed, air tight container or bag. For best results please also include inside the sealed container or bag, the small gel pouch that came with the filament cartridge when it was first purchased. The small gel pouch is designed to soak up any moisture in the air preventing it from contaminating the filament itself.

The links below are guides to help you download the Ultimaker Cura slicing software, with the Polaroid PlaySmart 3D Printer settings, so that you can use the Cura software in conjunction with the PlaySmart printer, as an alternative to the Polaroid SmartPrep slicing software.