I ordered some SainSmart 1.75mm Black PLA from Amazon and no longer have jams. Prints look pretty great and I can also print with the cover on!

Thanks fredhag that works great! I'm using cardboard at the moment to block the gaps in the front until I find something more permanent. I think I'll do what Rincewind did and get some wood to rest the cover on. That will block the gaps left in the front and back.

Now that I've done that, the clicking issue due to bending is gone, but it still happens sometimes. It looks like the PLA filament is jamming up where it enters the heating tube. This happens consistently after I've printed a few layers. I think its due to the extruder pulling retracting the filament to stop the plastic from extruding. I run the extruder manually it seems to flow freely. I'm running the PLA at 195. It says on the spool to use 195C to 205C. Do I have the heat too high or low, or is my PLA filament not up to par?

Thanks guys, all great ideas.

195 is usually too high temperature for the stock hotend, whose thermistor underestimates the temperature by a fair amount. When I still had that hotend, I was running it around 170 or so with PLA. And a fan helps.

Now that I've done that, the clicking issue due to bending is gone, but it still happens sometimes. It looks like the PLA filament is jamming up where it enters the heating tube. This happens consistently after I've printed a few layers. I think its due to the extruder pulling retracting the filament to stop the plastic from extruding. I run the extruder manually it seems to flow freely. I'm running the PLA at 195. It says on the spool to use 195C to 205C. Do I have the heat too high or low, or is my PLA filament not up to par?

Thanks guys, all great ideas.

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/942/post … t-station/

I received my SD2 over a year ago and have NEVER used the stock cover...

Has anyone else run into this problem and found a way to fix it? My thoughts are to prevent the extruder from bending the filament as it goes into the extruder head. It looks like I could a funnel shaped object that bolts easily on to the top bolt & nut of the extruder, that way when the head does pull the filament, it wouldn't be a sharp 90 degrees as it is now.

Yes, I also didn't like the small clearance on top of the solidoodle. I just glued two pieces of wood maybe 1" thick on top of the frame (front and back) so the cover rests on them. I don't screw the cover anyway because I have to remove it at least once a day for maintenance and mods

Hi Everyone,

I recently received my Solidoodle 2 Expert last weekend. So far I'm loving it, but I'm having some issues printing with PLA filament while using the metal cover that came with my Solidoodle. PLA seems to be much softer than the ABS filament and it seems to bends very easily. On large horizontal movement jobs, the solidoodle head pulls on the filament so much that it causes enough tension to cause the filament to bend in a near 90 degrees. Once this happens the extruder motor can't produce enough torque to pull the filament through and it starts making clicking noises as head skips and fails to extrude the filament. If I help guide the filament and take some of the tension off, it extrudes as expected.

There is only about a half an inch of clearance between where the filament goes into the top of the extruder and the top of the metal case that comes with the Solidoodle 2 Expert, so the filament has to bend. I'm using the spool pvc L bracket that came with the solidoodle, the filament seems to come freely as I pull it gently. I doubt the problem is there.

Has anyone else run into this problem and found a way to fix it? My thoughts are to prevent the extruder from bending the filament as it goes into the extruder head. It looks like I could a funnel shaped object that bolts easily on to the top bolt & nut of the extruder, that way when the head does pull the filament, it wouldn't be a sharp 90 degrees as it is now.

My goal is to keep the cover on my solidoodle as I've put some weather stripping around the door openings and its helped immensely with keep the fume smell down. The smell is almost gone while printing, that is until i open the door.

For reference, the PLA filament I have is Printrbot PLA Filament for 3D Printers, 1.75mm Diameter, Natural White, bought from amazon.

Thanks!
-Will