Why won't this Chainmail model print?

[43tesseracts 0]

I've tried to print this model twice on my UM2, but it seems to think it's done only about a 1/4 of the way through the model. I opened the gcode created by Cura in Repetier-Host (to visualize it) and the gcode for the entire model is there.

 

It's the 16x16 link model here:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8724

 

[SandervG 1,521]

Are you printing just 1 link or an entire chain mail?

At what speed and settings are you printing?

From my experience it is important to print the first layer rather slow, and use some glue on the plate.

 

[gr5 2,167]

photos please. A photo of what printed out, and a photo of Cura "layer view".

Did maybe the nozzle get clogged?

 

[43tesseracts 0]

It turns out the nozzle was getting clogged, coincidentally, at about the same point everytime. So it wasn't specific to the model.

Thanks for the tip about Layer view! I didn't know I could do that =)

 

[43tesseracts 0]

For the record, after much more investigation, it turns out the problem seems to be caused by retraction. The print required such a high frequency of retractions, after a while it would become too much and the toothed extruder thing would end up eating a hole in the filament.

 

[IRobertI 520]

What is your tension set at on the feeder? If it isn't already, back it out to the lowest possible setting (the little white indicator all the way up). I did a print a couple of months back with over 50000 retractions without any problem.

 

[gr5 2,167]

I've done a print with over a kilometer of retractions - no problem. A KILOMETER! lol!

Is the 3rd fan working? If the 3rd fan is off, then retractions are a major problem. Maybe your filament is more delicate than typical PLA? And it grinds to dust too easily?