1 Topic by mark.burhop (edited by mark.burhop 2013-12-22 21:51:35)

  • mark.burhop
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Topic: Help! Suddenly getting rough prints

After about 5 months with no problems I'm getting very rough prints from my Solidoodle 2.  I've included some pictures and video below:


https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B5_RIGRVo0o9RTVDUkFEcWFmaUp5cWczMVFSS1NZbzhPOHpF
Notice I get kind of a gooey mess and not straight lines with a 50% fill.  The extrusion seems to curl up a bit and get stuck to the nozzle just to get deposited later.

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B5_RIGRVo0o9SUlDR01VVFpxREJPOUVnWGRSSS1oNkZob2pR
Initially this looks like I don't have the bed set right but I've checked it a few times.  Also that doesn't explain the other problems.

VIdeo:

I've tried a number of things so I'm looking for some other ideas on what might be wrong or how to debug this.  Here is what I can say now.

1. It does not appear to be a problem with the PLA.  I have several other rolls and swapping out doesn't make a difference.

2. Could it be due to a partial clog?  I've not heard anyone have this problem before.  I've unloaded and reloaded filament quite a few times and have done some large prints. I've also used wire to try to dislodge anything.  I have not taken the nozzle apart (yet).

3. My bed is level and sticking well (in case that image above fools you).  In any case it would not explain the rough printing in all layers of the model.

4. I've changed fill rates from everything from 20% to 100%.  It didn't make any difference.

5. I've tried temperatures from 180 to 215 with PLA.  I've not seen a big difference in roughness.

6. I've experimented with Filament speed.  The above prints were at 120 mm/min which has always worked but I've gone from 100 to 150.


I'm starting to think it is a mechanical problem with the nozzle  (maybe a partial clog?)  which is why I did the video above.  Does your filament look like this when it extrudes?

SD2, glass bed, MK5 setup with E3D lite extruder
NX and Solid Edge CAD user
PI, Galileo, and arduino hacker
Code Monkey and Twitter user @burhop

mark.burhop's Website

2 Reply by spapadim

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Re: Help! Suddenly getting rough prints

PLA out of my old MG stock hotend _often_ looked like that (shooting filament sideways, curling up), although not as bad.  I also suspected a partial clog (but, then, it did fine with ABS). 

Also, 180-215 is a bit too high for that hotend (I'm doing 195 for MakerGeeks PLA with E3D, which is still on the high side -- and that should be around 165 with stock?).  It may have been slowly accumulating crud, until this happened?  Just a (wild) guess.

FWIW: I never succeeded with PLA with that hotend, I recently switched to an E3D and all my problems have disappeared.  Problems started when I got a top clog in one of the first PLA runs with old hotend, at around 185-190.  I managed to clear that by pulling remnants with tweezers from top, then pushing ABS through (which initially came out like in your video, but eventually settled).  After that, ABS was always ok, but PLA never worked.  Was always too lazy to dismount the old hotend until I swapped it out. I just gave up on PLA instead.  One of these days, when I'm done dialing everything in for the E3D, I may take the old hotend apart (since it's dismounted anyway) and investigate further.

3 Reply by michael.t.albers

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Re: Help! Suddenly getting rough prints

looks like a partial clog to me.

4 Reply by Briggs

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Re: Help! Suddenly getting rough prints

It looks like one of those rare clogs you can recover from with some music wire. Certainly appears from video it's getting hot enough. Make sure filament drive isn't packed with dusty filament. Good luck Mark

5 Reply by mark.burhop (edited by mark.burhop 2013-12-22 21:46:53)

  • mark.burhop
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Re: Help! Suddenly getting rough prints

Update... I tool the nozzle off following the instructions here:

http://vimeo.com/55042438

I blasted it with a heat gun to get all the old PLA out and then scraped the inside with a wire and needle.

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B5_RIGRVo0o9NFBUZTdXMGdZQk5lQzhkSVBhamktQzVkc3hB

It made a HUGE difference.  Above is the same print... check out the even lines in the fill compared to what was above.

SD2, glass bed, MK5 setup with E3D lite extruder
NX and Solid Edge CAD user
PI, Galileo, and arduino hacker
Code Monkey and Twitter user @burhop

mark.burhop's Website

6 Reply by michael.t.albers

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Re: Help! Suddenly getting rough prints

Looking good mark!  Glad we could help.

7 Reply by mark.burhop

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Re: Help! Suddenly getting rough prints

Thanks. Michael.  Got to love community for solving problems.

SD2, glass bed, MK5 setup with E3D lite extruder
NX and Solid Edge CAD user
PI, Galileo, and arduino hacker
Code Monkey and Twitter user @burhop

mark.burhop's Website