1 Topic by philipcotton

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Topic: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

Has anyone had the problem of the filament becoming stringy and not in filling evenly. Also basically I can't lead any prints unattended as the filament simply stops extruding, I have to manually push the filament to make sure the print does not fail at that point. I have checked the bearing and that seems fine. I am thinking it may be work down teeth not gripping the filament properly on the extruder pulley. Has anyone else had this issue? Also where could I buy a replacement end from? The picture below shows an example of what I am talking about.

Thanks

Phil

2 Reply by ronsii (edited by ronsii 2013-12-31 00:36:46)

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Re: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

Hi Phil, sounds like you may have a partial clog, what temps are you printing at? also the extruder drive pulley can get filled with filanemt dust and should be cleaned out with a stiff brush(toothbrush)

you will be able to post pics after five posts smile

3 Reply by philipcotton

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Re: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

Printing PLA at 195, also using an air duster to keep the extruder bearing teeth from clogging. Just can't seem to get consistent prints. Cleaned the extruder out with a guitar string and can easily extrude plastic through purging it before printing. Baffled by this at the moment.

4 Reply by ronsii (edited by ronsii 2013-12-31 00:54:55)

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Re: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

running that hot may be making it hard for the extruder to push the filament in the top... I'm just guessing as I don't use pla in my SD's but I know a few people here do so hopefully they will see your post and reply.

195 is what I usually print ABS at.

5 Reply by philipcotton

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Re: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

Thankyou, hopefully others will reply. I will try 180 tomorrow and see what happens!

6 Reply by ronsii

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Re: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

I think some users here actually go as low as 165.... but if you go too low it will trip the cold extrusion error but you can put an mcode in your startcode to prevent this.

7 Reply by philipcotton

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Re: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

I have found the answer in another post. I need to clean out the heat core! Thanks for your help!!

8 Reply by sgmorton

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Re: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

Can you post the thread where you found your answer?

9 Reply by philipcotton (edited by philipcotton 2014-01-02 00:41:30)

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Re: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

The thread said to get a hot air gun to heat up the inside of the barrel and the use a pin to unblock it. However I did it differently, I heated the barrel over a gas cooker he and then used a hat pin to unpick the blocked material. After I could not get any more blocked plastic out, I shined a led lamp down the barrel and could see solidified black almost carbon like substance that would not shift. So I got a small drill bit and drilled it out, see pictures below. I then tested the nozzle and barrel was clean by putting it on a bicycle pump and blasting air through to check it was clear.

This worked a treat and I have just printed a large 4 hour print with no issues. My printer performs like new. Basically I think in the solidoodle the hot end barrel and nozzle needs unblocking or replacing every few months so stop this from happening.

If it wasn't for this forum I would have my head in my hands about to throw my printer out the window!!

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10 Reply by philipcotton

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Re: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/4947/hel … gh-prints/ this is the link to the person who had the same issues as me.

11 Reply by philipcotton (edited by philipcotton 2014-01-02 00:45:05)

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Re: Filament goes stringy and can't print a full print

I heated the nozzle holding it with long nose pliers!