Printer Issues

[flynney 0]

Hi there,

New to this whole 3d printing thing and I have hit a few problems.

I had an issue where the filament on the wheel tangled itself, preventing the filament from flowing and ended up clogging / burning inside the nozzle.

I've cleared the hot end using the atomic method, but I have hit some more issues now.

Whenever I level the bed the filament doesnt stick down and instead bunches up around the hot end. I got it printing nice eventually, but after every print it does this and I have to re-adjust the print bed.

 

Am I doing anything wrong? I level the bed twice using the paper method, but I'm beginning to think this may not be helping me.

Initial layer thickness is 0.3 and 0.1 layer height there after.

Bottom layer speed is 20mm/s and then 50mm/s

Before the clog issue the printer was printing brilliantly btw.

Any help appreciated

 

[gr5 2,173]

Initial layer thickness is 0.3 and 0.1 layer height there after.

 

Excellent.

 

Whenever I level the bed the filament doesnt stick down and instead bunches up around the hot end. I got it printing nice eventually, but after every print it does this and I have to re-adjust the print bed.

 

At some point (probably now) you should probably stop using the leveling procedure. I haven't used it for about a year now. I just make small adjustments (quarter turn typically) with the 3 knobs (usually same amount on all 3) and eventually I got it perfect.

bunching up around the hot end 90% of the time indicates you have too much space between the nozzle and hot end but I'd like to see a picture. Or alternatively it's not extruding enough at first either because a retraction occurred, an extruder skip occurred (both normal and in both cases they recover after after about 30mm in printing) or due to underextrusion. To test for underextrusion print even slower (.3mm is 3X the volume as .1mm so try even slower bottom layer just to see - slow feedrate to 50%).

 

Before the clog issue the printer was printing brilliantly btw.

 

So one possibility is that it is still slightly clogged. Perhaps a 25% blockage. If slowing to 50% feedrate fixes it then assume you have partial clog. If instead it doesn't help and moving glass closer to nozzle fixes it then assume nozzle is fine.

If you conclude nozzle needs more cleaning I recommend you find a wire that fits inside the nozzle hole such as a hypodermic or acupuncture needle.

 

[flynney 0]

Sure thing.

The paper method used to work great, but I eventually started printing out a large square, adjusting until good, abort and then printing after that, but whenever I started a new print it would need adjusting again for some reason.

Dont know if relevant, but I am using Robert's alternative feeder and recently changed my rear fan for a new sunon one.

Should be noted these mods were done after the jamming problem to see if they would help.

 

[IRobertI 520]

Wasn't there a bug in the firmware recently(ish) which caused levelling issues? I forget...

Personally I don't agree with gr5 saying you should stop using the levelling guide. I think it works great and find adjusting with the knobs during printing to be far less reliable. But hey, people prefer different approaches. I will say though that I never have to use it unless I've been fiddling with the print head (which isn't uncommon for me but should probably be for you).

Also, make sure your plate is either clinically clean or use some glue to aid with the stickyness.

 

[flynney 0]

Looks like we may be back in business!

Took apart the print head today and barrel had a little deposit running down the side, no idea why this wasn't picked up when doing the atomic method!

turns out it was a little sliver of metal - the inside of the barrel polished up nicely so it should be fine now!

I still ran into bed leveling issues, installed new firmware and went through the bed level wizard again, works great, but then again after one print needs leveling again!

So I flipped the glass and a couple small prints later it keeping the bed level!

There are still some slight issues where some little bits blob up, but it sticks!

Thanks for all the suggestions, this has been a few frustrating days for me to say the least.

 

 

[titanoid 4]

Don´t want to tickle sleeping dogs, but did you see http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/9122-problem-with-calibration/? Weird... Bad batch of glass plates?