Unanswered I give up - New Hotend Help

Okay, I bought me Robo3D 2 years ago. I got 3 prints out of it, but it kept jamming. I was told then, that was a common issue and I should upgrade to the E3d hotend. I did and have never got it to work since. Initially it was acting like the extruder was on the bed: It would try to print for about an inch or two, then it would mushroom up around the tip and clog. I went back and fort mainly from this to other issues like an error indicating extruder was loose to it not melting the filament, though the hotend was still heating.

I gave up and let it sit a few months. Now I'm back trying to make it print and am back to the not-melting-the-filament issue. Hotend heats, just no filament melts through. I have tried 3 types of filament thinking maybe the first was just old and the second was too cheap. I am now wondering if I either need to get a new hotend/extruder, or just play smashy smashy with it and end my suffering. Assuming I go the first route, what is now the best (and simple) hotend/extruder for me to try now?

 

Don't give up! I'm "fighting" with my printer day by day, hope to see my 1st print soon

 

Hi,

What I've seen as a very common issue is that people get these things under the impression that they are like a paper printer. They are not. There are many variables that tend to affect your experience. A big issue that I see is people buying a printer and immediately wanting to upgrade and do exotic things. Very simple advice, if you are not willing to tinker with these things, your experience will be miserable. Anyone can print crap with these things. In order to do high quality work, you must work at it like everything else.

The printer is an electromechanical system. Before giving up and before upgrading, learn the basic functions. Make sure that all of your mechanical components are doing their job properly. The extruder that comes with this printer is fine for doing just about anything, so your issue is not the extruder and the solution is not an upgrade. Think about what you are trying to do.

I'm not an expert, however, my robo literally has 1000s of hours on it with success. Out of the box, maybe 3 prints. Pay attention to the filament and how it melts. There are piles of misleading posts on what works. What works on one system may not work on yours. Everything you read is relative to that person's printer, environment and preferences.

There are things you can do to try to rule out issues. Once you tune your printer, it should almost be bullet proof. You don't have to be a genius to figure these things out, just spend a couple of hours a day and keep in mind that all problems have a cause and effect.

Contact through email and I'd be happy to help you. You have got to be willing to experiment and to waste material and time. The control of the manufacturing as well as design issues are the main challenges.

elpatosmith@gmail.com


PS - $250,000 machines have challenges, so don't feel bad if your $800 machine needs love

 

Okay, sorry about the long delay. I wrote the post after trying the better filament, but when I had no money to try anything else. I have a bit right now so, here we go.

Initially, the original kept clogging. I'd get 1 or 2 prints (total success = 4) and it would clog sometime during the next one. I asked on here and was told to upgrade, so I did.

After the upgrade, it would go through the motions, but only leave an almost invisible pass on the plate. Looking at the extruder, it looked like it was resting against the plate and would have a mushroom of PLA at its tip like it was trying to force it out with the plate against the tip. I tried the auto level with the paper (even tried card stock) between extruder and plate but that didn't help.



I worked and worked with this and the only thing that ever happened differently, was occasionally, the PLA wouldn't melt at all. There was also a while I was getting an error code that I eventually found out was the Extruder was loose. I now have that fixed, but the PLA will not extrude. I can touch it to the outside of the extruder and it melts so its hot enough. I have taken it apart, cleaned it out (I bought the little cleaning kit with the super thin bits that fit through the extruder nozzle), made sure the openings are all clear and I just can't get it to melt. There are no errors and since nothing at all comes out, not really anything to take a picture of.

I have an AS in Electronics and worked as a hardware computer tech. Both were 20 years ago so there is nothing similar in the tech, but I'm just saying that to show that I don't have a problem fiddeling with things. Though again, my practical knowledge is ancient...

 

hi, take a few pictures of setup, showing extruded, hotend and the fliamnent as it is fed.

Now, describe the symptoms

- gets stuck
- doesn't feed
- won't allow manual feed
- stuck gear
- filament is grinding
- bed not reaching temp
- extruded not reaching temp
- cooling fan not working(what cooling fan?)
- filament won't feed
- cold end fan not running
- etc

Try this:

Set nozzle temp to 190C for PLA. Be prepared to go up by 10 degree increments if you cannot push down the the filament by hand and have filament coming out the nozzle.

If you can do this and it works (i.e. You have lots of little strings) your issue is not the nozzle.

If the steps above didn't work, check the filament cooling fan on the cold end. That fan must be working at 100%. This is not an options fan for PLA, and or anything else.

Let's assume that the filament fan is fine, the problem moves up the line.

Next, check the extruder Hobbed wheel (the thing that looks like a gear) is clean and free of plastic grinding burrs. In addition, clean the follower bearing.


Next feed the filament through the extruded and into the hot end (straighten out the first 2 inches and cut to a point)

Push the filament by hand down the nozzle until you see significant extrusion. Your nozzle temp should be at 190 (verify by measuring or by observing by rmeltrd plastic - look for a very smooth flow - no bubbles). You should do this at 5" off the table.

Once you see this, you will the. Tighten the tension springs and until you can no nlonger truth the large gear. Once you get to this point, back until the extrusion Is smooth - no bubbles. The material should pool circularly right beneath the nozzle. If this is the case, you are set to extrude at madman levele.

Use your manual controls and extrude a few thousand Millimeters.

Your next problem will be ashy the filament doesn't stick to the table. We will get to that once you get past this.