Print stops or fails halfway through

[GregValiant 1,344]

The flow numbers I saw in the gcode files are very reasonable.  The first file averaged 3.84mm³/sec with a high of 7.4 and a low of 2.7.  The 7.4 numbers all relate to infill and it looks like your infill speed was 60mm/sec.  The 2.7 flow rate was most likely caused by Cura varying the line width down to whatever minimum you had set.

Those numbers are not stressing the hot end's ability to melt plastic at all.  This pretty much lets Cura and the gcode off the hook and I'm back at the printer itself.

Because you recently changed the E stepper and hot end they are the likeliest suspects.  (That makes them the easiest to blame but doesn't make them guilty.)

[kennedyjm 0]

Well that one did complete without any problems.  The difficulty I have is that I don't know what settings it changed since there is no listing of Recommended settings.

 

[GregValiant 1,344]

There are standard "Profiles" like "Super Quality", "Dynamic Quality", "Standard Quality", and "Low Quality".  Sometimes printer manufacturers will have slightly different names, but there will be a couple of standard settings profiles.

If you click on the name of the current setting profile options will appear at the bottom dialog.  You can't over-write a standard profile but you can create your own from a standard profile.  You can see that one options is to "Update Profile with current Settings/Overrides" that will allow you to update you custom profile to different values.

 

I have a a total of 5 settings profiles.

1. TPU.
2. PLA fast printing.
3. PLA medium printing.
4. PLA fine.
5. PETG

I also have 3 Ender 3 Pro printers installed in Cura even though I only own the one printer.  Each installed printer has a different StartUp Gcode.  (There would be no way for me to print TPU purge lines at PLA speeds.)

 

If I have a fancy detailed model that I'm printing in PLA I choose the PLA printer and then the "PLA Fine" setting profile.  I then go through EVERY SETTING and double check that it will give me the proper results for the particular model I'm slicing.  What I will not do is update the profile because it is my "base" and I know it works.  For example, just because I'm changing from normal supports to tree supports for this particular model doesn't mean I want tree supports turned on all the time.

 

Right now I'm printing a large flat plate with some raised lettering.  There is a pause at height for the letters.  I'm using the PLA Fast profile kicked up from 75 to 100mm/sec.  When the letters start there is an M220 S50 line that will drop the print speed to 50% and that will be much more sane for fine work.

 

[kennedyjm 0]

I am using CURA 5.1 and I can use any of the various qualities (Super, Dynamic, Standard, Low) in the Recommended mode.   I see (under Recommended) that there are three Print Settings: Infill (%) – which is changeable, Support, and Adhesion.  The Support and Adhesion seem pretty much fixed, so I don’t know what they are set at or what any of the other settings are in Recommended mode.

If I go to the “Custom” mode, I can, of course, set any of the parameters.

My apologies, but I am not sure what you are saying.  

Thanks again.

Jim K.

[GregValiant 1,344]

When you select a stock profile like "Standard" you can make changes to the settings but you cannot save them to the Standard profile.  It will always start with it's default settings.  In the middle of a Cura session you could decide that you've made a mess of the settings.  Re-selecting "Standard" would bring up a dialog and you have the option of either Keeping or Discarding the changes you made.  Another feature of that dialog is to inform you of what the differences are between the profile you are using, and the changes you have made.

For this print I was using my 75mm/sec profile.  I changed a couple of things.  When I click on the profile this dialog comes up.

 

And it is telling me that I changed the retraction distance and the Outer Wall speed.

The same thing will come up with a regular profile.  Clicking on it will bring up the list of what's different.

[kennedyjm 0]

Yes, I understand that – however, that is true for the Custom settings, what I was saying is that it printed alright in the Recommended settings and for this there is no list of what the settings actually are.

Are you suggesting that the Standard settings are the same as Recommended and I should go with the original unchanged of the Standard settings?

[GregValiant 1,344]

What you are aiming for is consistently good prints with nice finishes.  There will be times when a built-in profile isn't quite right for you what you want to do with a model.

A simple example is when you choose between Normal and Tree supports or you decide that the outer walls will look better if printed at a lower speed.  Those sorts of things require that you go into the custom settings and make changes.  It's part of the learning curve of Cura.

With experience you will learn to set Cura up so it plays to the strength of your particular printer.  That's when you will graduate to using the Custom settings all the time.  I have 5 Custom profiles.  I pick one based on how close it will be to giving me what I want.  I know I can't print TPU at 15mm/sec.  My custom profile has the print speed at 10 which I know will work for my printer.

If I'm printing a model with fine lettering?  I'm going slower with lower Jerk and Accel settings.

If I have a model with a large round horizontal hole that I know will want to curl up?  I will enable Z-hops so the model doesn't get whacked by the nozzle and maybe break loose from the bed.  Those sorts of things require customization.

 

[kennedyjm 0]

That’s great.  I am trying to understand – if you look back into how this conversation started – why my printer stopped extruding several hours into a print.  Several prints.  What I found and reported to you was, that when I used the “Recommended” mode I did not have this problem, but the Recommended mode does not tell you what has changed because it does not tell you what each of the features is.

I think you got off on a track telling me how you categorize each of your prints and lost track of what my problem was.

[GregValiant 1,344]

"I have had some prints that stop about halfway through the print - several hours into it. I have been using CURA 5.1 since it was available..."

"Well the older CURA (4.12)  failed as well "

 

After a close analysis of the gcode I said "This pretty much lets Cura and the gcode off the hook and I'm back at the printer itself."  That was because my analysis of the gcode shows that it's fine.  There is nothing in there that would cause a printer's E-motor to stop.  There are no settings you could adjust that would stop the printer in mid-print.

It is possible to have retractions that are too long and that pull plastic up into the hot end where it can cool and cause a partial clog, but the extruder keeps turning and either skips steps, or grinds away the filament.  For the extruder to simply stop turning in mid-print??  

 

After that discusion, I did get off on a tangent regarding settings and how to keep track of them.  In my defense, I thought you were asking about that.

 

Getting back to why the printer stopped extruding, it appears to be a problem at the printer end.

The hot end fan stops, a clog at the hot end, the nozzle clog, over-heating E driver chip on the mainboard, the E stepper is over-heating and quitting, etc..  Those aren't things that changing settings (other than retraction length) are going to fix.

 

It was running fine and then it wasn't.  From what I've understood - the X Y Z motors were running fine but the E motor quit.

"Because you recently changed the E stepper motor and hot end they are the likeliest suspects."  

[kennedyjm 0]

Thank you.  I had recalibrated the E steps after I did the hot end swap with the Mosquito/Bondtech combination. I will recheck that soon, I am currently running a print on that printer – again, in Recommended mode.

I should have done so earlier in light of it having failed with both CURA 5.1 and CURA 4.12

I will let you know if I find any anomalies.

Thanks again,

Jim K.

[kennedyjm 0]

I got to thinking that, as I was printing PETG at a fairly high temperature (240c), it may very well be the extruder motor is heating up after some period of time has passed – particularly in the heat wave we had here in Knoxville for the last few weeks.  The fact that the extruder motor stops completely is the troubling issue.  I did put a heatsink and cover on the extruder motor (image) shortly after the first instance, but…

In any event I will check Estops after this print finishes.

Jim K.

[kennedyjm 0]

I just re-did the E steps, and they are spot on.  They have not moved since I calibrated them last.

Also, the  print I was waiting to complete has finished without any problem.  Now I am left with the notion that the motor likely overheated for some reason and I think that, since I added a heatsink to it a few weeks ago,  I have to wait and see if I can make it happen again.  I do have other items I must print on the printer - so, I am at a bit of a loss.

Thanks for your help.

Jim K

[GregValiant 1,344]

The temperature test is pretty simple.  If you can hold on to it comfortably between your finger and thumb then it's fine.

[kennedyjm 0]

Thanks, I’ll try the finger and thumb test.  The prints are about 16 + hours so I will not be able to do  so until tomorrow – I lost the morning to redoing the E steps thing. 

I don’t like to print while I am asleep – I’m afraid I don’t trust the equipment enough (including the smoke alarm I installed just above it!).

Jim K

[GregValiant 1,344]

"I’m afraid I don’t trust the equipment enough (including the smoke alarm I installed just above it!)." 

A Techophobe doing 3D printing?

I almost had a fire in my printer when a high-resistance condition developed at the power supply connection to the mainboard.  I had to replace the connector on the board.  I keep an eye on it now and checking it is part of my maintenance routine.