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Starts out fine then goes crumbly

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Jutte, Feb 26, 2022.

  1. Jutte

    Jutte Member

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    Any suggestions what's going on here? The platform and first few layers print fine, then it goes spindly and crumbly. Doesn't seem to matter what filament. I've tried several different PLAs - new and old (stored in an airtight box with dessicant). Most successful recently was a calibration cube printed at low res standard settings. It seems to happen after the printer has been operating for a couple of hours. I have been using Cura.[​IMG][​IMG]

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  2. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    This is almost always a flow rate problem. If the rings are solid and your flow rate is too high you will get this. Try making the wall thin enough that you have infill on the inner part of the ring, this will allow pressure relief on the print head.

    I would slow down the print speed.
     
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  3. Jutte

    Jutte Member

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    Didn't help.

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  4. Jutte

    Jutte Member

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    I decided to purge some filament before trying again, and noticed that the extrusion was inconsistent. Checking the spool, I found that it was not turning as freely as it should. I put some silicone lube on the spindle and the inside of the spool and now it is feeding well through the extruder. I probably need to clean the feed cogs. I'm not sure how best to do that.

    Update: Found the maintenance files.

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    #4 Jutte, Mar 1, 2022
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2022
  5. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    After every print I do a filament load, then as it is feeding I pull it out to clean the head, cut off a few inches, then put the filament back in. You will notice it you have not been doing that the filament will come out thicker. That being said, I do not think it is your problem.

    What I have observed is if the flow rate is too high, each succeeding layer makes it increasingly more difficult for the head to extrude. I would decrease by 5% each attempt and see if the failure goes higher each time.
     
  6. Jutte

    Jutte Member

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    Success[​IMG]

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  7. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    I was just driven nuts by the same problem, took me two weeks to solve. I took the arm off the printer and inserted a 1.8mm soft steel rod down the hole. I found that the rod did not move down to the nozzle freely. I coated the rod with canola oil and ran it up and down until it slid easily the whole length. I then reassembled the print head. I took a piece of cloth dampened with canola oil and wrapped around the feeding filament and held it with a folder clamp.

    Solved the problem while I still had hair left.
     
  8. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    Nice Print
     
  9. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    Lance, thank you for the insight on that problem.
     

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