Long print filament/extruder stops but keeps moving. Next print fine?

[markus555 0]

Hey all

I am trying to print a large print, 30+ hours. Everything I try to print it, it fails halfway through. The extruder keeps moving but no filament is coming out/printing. . Yet the nozzle is not clogged and filament is not tangled, proven by trying to print another small object directly after the failed print and it printed fine. Is it because the print is long,? . Is there other settings I need to modify for longer prints?

[Chris1 4]

I currently have the same Problem, and still trying to solve it. For some reason the nozzle clogs up temporarily and then the feeder grinds the filament to the point that it can barely move (but still works for starting new print). Probably also related to temperature: I increased by + 20°C and it started working, but at that high temperature, the warping was very bad.

[vany-chaotic 0]

Hey!

I got the same problem months ago with both of my printers. I was never able to solve it but I was able to track down the problem. I experimented alot with flow, temperature and speed settings but nothing helped.

It was only occuring when I was NOT using original ultimaker filament. I got alot of ColorFabb Filament which is not working. I did not try out other filament suppliers tho.

So which kind of filament are you using?

[Chris1 4]

The filament I have this problem with is black RS-Pro PLA, 2.85mm, 1 kg spool (from RS-online.com).

The interesting thing is: I have used this same product for ~1 year without any problem. It just started recently, and gcode files that printed good a wile ago, fail now.

Smaller prints are OK, but for my current U-shaped object that almost fills the build plate completely, it won't work (>10 failed tries).

I noticed that they changed the design of the package, maybe they also changed the composition or it's just a bad batch...

I tried with some old original filament, and the build succeeded on first try. Yes, the original Ultimaker filament solved the problem for me.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Guest

[vany-chaotic 0]

Yeah, had the same problem. Colorfabb apparently changed the composition aswell. pretty depressing considering I have about 120 € of worthless filament lying around right now :(

[Chris1 4]

I have to revise my earlier post a little bit. After contacting the manufacturer, they suggested to heat the filament overnight at 40°C.

The problem seems to be the water absorbed from ambient air. However, I had taken the filament freshly from the factory-sealed shrink-wrap packaging.

To my surprise this worked! It recovered the bed adhesion and print quality of this batch of filament.

[geert_2 557]

For nylon and ABS this is a well known problem: in a few hours they may absorb enough moisture from the air to make printing or injection moulding impossible, or with very poor results.

But I hadn't heard about this for PLA yet. Although it does degenerate over time (months, years) due to moisture absorption: this breaks down the polymer molecules.

I store all my filament in big boxes with a disseccant with color indicator (blue = dry, pink = moist). I found in a car shop: to dry car interiors and to avoid condensation on the windows. So it has a high absorption capacity.

There are also a few people who have made boxes with a spool holder, and with a small exit hole, with disseccant, so they can keep the filament dry even when printing. Maybe that would be a solution for you? Just find a suitable polyethylene food storage box, drill a few holes in it. Then design and print a spool holder and fix it in it.