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Unanswered Calibrate extruder after filament change

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Toro1966, Jul 28, 2016.

  1. Toro1966

    Toro1966 Active Member

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    Hey guys - was having problems printing a week or so ago so I calibrated my extruder. After that, all has been well for the last week. Now today, I started having the same issues, checked the extruder and sure enough I was underextruding again. I just calibrated it again, but why did I have to do that? The only difference is I changed the filament. Both were PLA. What's more troubling is that I actually printed last night fine with this new filament after I had changed it and then today had the extrusion problem. I checked the steps value and it was as it was supposed to be. Thoughts? What would cause it to start underextruding? Could I have had the temp wrong potentially?
     
    #1 Toro1966, Jul 28, 2016
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Not likely temperature. Could be small clogs with the PLA.
    Season it and try again.
     
    #2 mark tomlinson, Jul 28, 2016
  3. Toro1966

    Toro1966 Active Member

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    Should I run cleaning filament through it? I extruded plenty before the print and it came out nice and straight. It is printing fine now because I just recalibrated it. If I understand your point correctly, and it was in fact slightly clogged, then if I season and clean it, I may end up now overextruding - correct?
     
    #3 Toro1966, Jul 28, 2016
  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    If you tweaked the eSteps for the extruder, yes... but make sure it is printing right before doing it again :)
     
    #4 mark tomlinson, Jul 28, 2016
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    PLA can be frustrating. I like PLA for test objects (and some real ones) but it can be a hassle without an oiler.
    You can just season it periodically (how often varies by nozzle -- seriously). I had one that I seasoned, like once and it worked fine.
    Until I ran nylon through it and then I had to season it again. I finally just got tired of bothering and added an oiler and always use it on PLA. Not a single problem since (unless I forgot to add a couple of drops for a long time)
     
    #5 mark tomlinson, Jul 28, 2016
  6. Toro1966

    Toro1966 Active Member

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    Thanks Mark - so just so I am clear about the seasoning process, it goes something like this:
    1 - Heat up hot end to PLA temp (in my case that is about 195-200).
    2 - Extrude about 50mm of PLA.
    3 - Shut down hotend and allow to cool.
    4 - Turn on and start heating up while applying upward pressure on filament until you are able to manually pull it out.
    5 - Take end of filament and roll in some olive oil (or similar)
    6 - Insert into hotend and push some filament out. Push some more out.
    7. Repeat steps 1-6, two to three times.

    Is that right? Thanks!
     
    #6 Toro1966, Jul 28, 2016
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yes, that is a very detailed set of instructions :)

    Any vegetable oil will work, canola is good because of the higher flash-point, but honestly the oil itself is not the point, but rather the residue it leaves behind. Exactly like seasoning a cast-iron skillet.
     
    #7 mark tomlinson, Jul 29, 2016

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