High temperature needed to print with PLA

[david-mantilla 0]

I'm new in 3d printing tecnology. I bought an ultimaker printer a month ago and every thing was fine. But suddenly the PLA stopped comming out from nozzle.

Yesterday i was trying to figure out what was happening i found that if i get the hot end at 230 or higher temperature i can print, but with 217, which was the temperature i have been printing before , tha PLA just doesn't come out !

I need tips to resolve it !!!

Thanks every body !

 

[illuminarti 17]

Is this change in behavior permanent? Its possible that you had something stuck in the hot end, and once you heated the head up a bit, it flushed through. You may now be able to print at lower temps again. What happens at 217, if you turn the extruder gear by hand? Does any plastic come out?

If not you could even try heating it up even more - to 250 - and then turn the gear wheel by hand to drive more plastic through.

Also, make sure that the extruder is properly clamped shut, with the bolt all the way to the bottom of the slot, and that the spring is about 11 or 12mm long - it should be tightly compressed, but still have some room to compress even more.

 

One possibility is that the temperature readings are off. Did you move the head or disassemble it recently? Check that the wires on the thermocouple going into the hot end look undamaged, and make sure they are well screwed into the little circuit board on the head, as well. if you have an external thermometer, you could check the temperature with that - but bear in mind that most IR ones do a poor job of reading the temperature of the shiny aluminum block.

 

[SandervG 1,248]

Have you been in the need to re-assemble your hot end, and take the cartridge heater / thermocouple sensor out?

Maybe the iron covering of the thermocouple has moved, and now a part of the wires are exposed.

Is your feeder giving you enough pressure?

When your hot end is hot, 180/200/230°C, are you able to pull your filament back out?