In an earlier post you mentioned you stuck a hex key half an inch in - the nozzle is deeper than that, and just pushing something in might move the debris around but not remove it.

Can you soak the 1.75mm nozzle in acetone at some point in the future, check that it is clean, and reinstall? I've never heard of 3.0 going faster than 1.75.

You can't let it hit anything on the way down.

By "printer" do you mean extruder?

3mm filament should be slower than 1.75. Typically:

1.75mm filament: 10-18in/min
3.0mm filament: 3-6in/min

Yes, I meant to write "extruder".

With the original motor, I'm seeing the 3mm filament extrude faster than that rate, and 1.75mm filament extruding slower. Given constant volume of plastic, I'd expected that the 1.75mm filament would extrude faster than 3mm, so I'm wondering if the narrower nozzle is a factor. I've stick a 1.5mm hex key through the 1.75mm nozzle when hot, so there's no obvious blockage.

So the 1.75mm extrusion is much, much slower than expected. So I'll stick to 3mm extrusion for now. That's fine - I hope to use filastruded filament in my shiny new 3Doodler, since all of my filament for printing is 1.75mm (Replicator and, some day, QU-BD RPM).

Another possible factor is that I'd mixed in the red ABS colerant (from OS Printing) and that might have made the plastic thicker. I've switched to feeding in raw ABS, so the color is slowly fading (it's pinkish now) so it's possible that the extrusion got faster as the colerant is diluted.

By "printer" do you mean extruder?

3mm filament should be slower than 1.75. Typically:

1.75mm filament: 10-18in/min
3.0mm filament: 3-6in/min

What is going on below the table?  Is there a clear circle with the nozzle at the center, or are there table legs or other things under the table?

The table has legs, and the floor is tiled, so there's slight resistance either from the filament end bumping into tile edges or against table legs. It's not much, but apparently enough.

Pulling it by hand for a foot would probably fix the problem, since that would avoid the initial wave that seems to trigger everything.

I just tried holding the printer up at a 45 degree angle, and it made a world of difference. I imagine being fully vertical would be even better, but that's tricky to do at a Maker Faire where I have to set up at a table.

I also tried 3mm instead of 1.75mm, and it also made a big difference. The filament comes out much faster. THough the width seems more uneven, so all is not perfect yet.

When I place the single support as described in the kit instructions, I *never* get weaving. I do need to pull it out by hand has it extrudes to keep it straight for about a foot, then it is good to go on autopilot, so to speak. You do need a clear area under the extruder for it to fall uninhibited.

I know others aren't seeing this. So what do I need to do differently?

The more I think about it, the more a vertical mounting makes more sense. Short of mounting it on a wall (hard to do at a Maker Faire, etc.) do you think it'd help to lift it to a 45 degree angle, so the filament can pretty much come straight down pulled by gravity?

I think I finally got it.  My support configuration looks nothing like the manual, though.

I'm running 1.75 and I finally set the first support to be higher than the nozzle to force a bit of a curve into the filament and then set the seconds support to intersect that natural curve.  Before that, I could have the system perfectly smooth, walk away for ten minutes and come back to the sine waves of doom.

Can you post a picture?

I'm running 1.75 and I finally set the first support to be higher than the nozzle to force a bit of a curve into the filament and then set the seconds support to intersect that natural curve.  Before that, I could have the system perfectly smooth, walk away for ten minutes and come back to the sine waves of doom.

elmoret wrote:

What hopper funnel are you using? The hopper funnel STL I include should sit on top of the wood enclosure itself. There should be nothing promoting a sideways tipping.

Mine is one of my own design, and like others I have seen, is attached to the hopper.

Well there ya go.

What hopper funnel are you using? The hopper funnel STL I include should sit on top of the wood enclosure itself. There should be nothing promoting a sideways tipping.

Mine is one of my own design, and like others I have seen, is attached to the hopper.

The experiment I set up looked at what temperatures is the hopper seeing (during normal use) and observing the hopper. I found that the hopper got loose as stated above but it never deformed. Even when the machine was set to heat to max temp.  We have a few machines set up here with PLA and have no issues. But in the long run, ABS hoppers are more stable and a better solution. 

If anyone is having issues with their hopper, please send me pictures so I can document thoroughly. Thank you

Rob