Printing problem: looks like under extrusion

[Enzog 0]

Hello everybody,

I have had my Ender 3 v2 for 10 months now, and have just ran into a problem: it won’t extrude properly anymore. Looks something like under extrusion but at a very very extreme degree, only small little dots of plastic come out and barely link to form the model.

I changed the extruder nozzle, but that worked for about 5 seconds and then same problem; I bumped up the extruder’s temperature to 220 degrees instead of my usual 200 (PLA print), and it worked once again for about 5 seconds before going back to the problem.

The first picture in attachment shows the effect: some of the little hexagons that printed well are when I increased the temperature to 220, and then it progressively went back to doing the other hexagons under extruded.

The problem first appeared at the end of this print, where instead of doing nice top layers it bungled it all up, as seen in the second picture attached.

Any suggestion as to what the problem might be?

After leaving it overnight, I now can’t extrude anything at all out of the nozzle: a small dot of PLA does leek through the 200 °c nozzle, but nothing more. And I tested by pushing myself on the filament in case the extruder was the problem, but no difference.

Any help will really be greatly appreciated, it’s a pain not to be able to print stuff anymore!

[Slashee_the_Cow 291]

This isn't really an "Ender-3 Help Forum" (although apparently UltiMaker support get an overwhelming number of requests for help with other manufacturers' printers just because UM are responsible for Cura).

 

It's probably a blockage somewhere in the system, but there's a few places it can be. It might also not be that. With the demise of 2D printers something had to take over as the device which is impossible to diagnose a problem with and 3D printers were the obvious next step.

 

Best case scenario, hardware wise: clogged Bowden tube. Pull the tube out of the extruder and see if there's anything blocking it. This isn't the only thing a blocked tube can look like, especially if you don't use purple filament, but I love any excuse to break out my macro lens:

You can see that some filament might be able to make it through, but it ain't gonna work.

 

Make sure the hardware is cool, then remove the Bowden tube from the hot end. If it looks like there's anything in the tube, cut it back an inch or two behind where the blockage is and reinstall it into the hot end (push it in as far as it'll go) and if it has a retaining clip put it back on.

 

Also, and somewhat worse, hot end is clogged. Fairly simple test, after making sure your Bowden tube has nothing blocking it, just head up the hot end and try to load some filament (something like PLA, not something soft like TPU). If you feel resistance trying to push the filament through the hot end, it's possible there's something clogging the hot end.

 

Fixing that is beyond my knowledge base, sometimes you can remove the Bowden tube, heat up the hot end and have a little poke with something about 1.75mm in diameter and heat resistant, but if you feel much resistance then stop, that's just a slightly fancier version of the "loading the filament" test.

 

If your hot end is clogged, you might be able to try a cold extrusion or you might have to disassemble it. Please seek information from people who know how to do it (i.e. not me) before you try anything like that.

[Enzog 0]

This happens to be one of the only 3d printing forums where people actually help out... Thanks for the help, anyway!

 

So I've tried looking into the bowden tube, but I can only unclip the end near the extrusion; the end near the hot end doesn't want to come loose. I guess I could pull really hard and see what happens, but I'm scared of damaging the printer even more. What do you think I should do?

 

I'm now trying to investigate the nozzle a bit, even though I changed it it might be the cause of the blockage...

 

Thanks very much for your advice!

[Enzog 0]

Nozzle all clear, so definitively higher up

[Enzog 0]

That nut looks interesting... Does anyone know what it takes appart? I might give it a go and see if it enables me to get at the bowden tube

[Enzog 0]

Ok bother, it's just what holds the clip thing for the bowden, and that bowden is still stuck deep down in there

Ps - I'm getting to like macro too 😅

[Enzog 0]

Last macro pic I'll post...

 

Just what you said Slashee! That bowden was a mess, and now that I've finally got it out I'm going to replace it with a capricorn. Thanks for the help!

[Slashee_the_Cow 291]

5 hours ago, Enzog said:

Last macro pic I'll post...

 

Just what you said Slashee! That bowden was a mess, and now that I've finally got it out I'm going to replace it with a capricorn. Thanks for the help!

No problemo. I always love a happy ending 🙂

 

12 hours ago, Enzog said:

This happens to be one of the only 3d printing forums where people actually help out... Thanks for the help, anyway!

I haven't tried many others, but a hear a lot of subreddits about this sort of thing can be pretty brutal. I can't even remember what I originally came here about but now I spend far too much of my free time here helping people 😄