Solved E3D V6 0.25mm nozzle clogging mid print

Printer: R1+
Filament type: Black PLA
Extruding Temp: 200-215
Bed Temp: 50
Bed makeup: Glass+Light glue stick for small prints
Print speed: 10-25mm/s, the one on the right in the picture is 10mm/s, the one on the left I believe was 20mm/s
Layer height: 0.2mm
Retraction: 1mm @ 15mm/s


I just recently got done installing the E3D V6 to replace the hexagon, and everything seems to be working well with a 0.4mm nozzle, but with the 0.25mm nozzle, it seems to get clogged mid print. Up until then, it looks pretty good but then it clogs and prints erratically or jams completely. Then, I have to stop the print and take out the filament (No blobs on the end, just a long string) and cut it and put it in again. The heatsink isn't warm at all and the fan is always running. The problem persists across S3D as well as Cura.

I'm trying again with a seasoner on the filament right now to see if it helps at all.
Edit: It did not appear to. It didn't completely jam but it still stayed just as messed up as the rest.

 

To what speed would you recommend? Because that picture, the right side was done at 10mm/s, and I print normally 0.4mm nozzles at 40mm/s. I've also tried temperatures between 200-215 with little change.

 

I had did a E step calibration right after installing the V6 on the 0.4mm nozzle, and I figured it would still be accurate but I did it again anyways with the 0.25mm nozzle and it was underextruding by 20mm so I changed it in firmware and ran it again. I also changed the layer height to 0.15mm. Unfortunately the results were largely similar to the others. I currently have retraction turned off, the nozzle was completely clean at the beginning (I checked the hole with a camera and it appeared to be perfectly round with no blockages, though it is hard to achieve getting the nozzle clean enough to see through the hole), the speed at 15mm/s, and the temperature at 220c which is the highest temperature recommended by the manufacturer for this PLA. It did go slightly further than normal but that could just be chance.


Also, I put back on the 0.4mm nozzle and it printed the same STL fine (A bit worse looking than normal since I have been messing with settings) so it's something unique to the 0.25mm nozzle.

 

Hmm, alright. I am ordering some better quality PLA in case it is a problem with the filament itself. I also asked the Printedsolid guys if they could take a look here since they sell the smaller nozzles and might have a better idea of how to use them with good results. Failing both of those I'll probably try another nozzle.

 

So I had a bit of better quality older PLA laying around so I decided to give it a try, and with that PLA at 20mm/s and 205C, it completed without jamming. I also used the trick along with the seasoner to put the filament through a Dremel polishing wheel to clean the filament before it enters the extruder. Keeping the speed at 20mm/s I don't have much ringing like I have at 40mm/s on the 0.4mm nozzle so holes look a bit nicer as well. It could probably look better if I put back on retraction and the parts fan so I'll do that and post a picture here if that print finishes as well.

Edit: Here it is at 0.15mm layer heights, 20mm/s, 205C and 1mm retraction. Any recommendations to improve the quality are welcome

 

No worries. I had mentioned in a previous post that I had retraction turned off so I knew retraction wasn't causing the filament to jam. The part I posted was just a quick test print, it doesn't need the 0.25mm nozzle, I was just using it as a test print. I'm actually using the 0.25mm nozzle to print miniatures and it's been working out pretty well with this better quality filament I had laying around. A 4 hour miniature print actually just finished as I was writing this so here's a picture. (There was a lot of supports so it took about double the time)



I've found that using a 0.25 nozzle isn't necessary for layer heights but it seems to be much better with finer details on miniatures like belt buckles and tiny objects like staffs. It isn't perfect yet but it's getting closer. I like having a 0.25 nozzle since I can still print larger objects in a reasonable time at 0.2mm layers and finer objects like minis at a lower layer height.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't go any higher than 0.2mm on the 0.25mm nozzle but 0.2mm isn't too bad.

I wish I didn't have to change nozzles so often but my only other printer is a Solidoodle Press (oof) that isn't exactly in working condition right now.

The better quality filament seems to be doing well, It's been pumping out miniatures all day, unfortunately I ran out of that filament already and the Hatchbox from Amazon isn't here yet.

I did have another quick question that's somewhat unrelated though. My glass bed is starting to get really bad delaminating in the middle and prints in the middle keep pulling off more glass so I was wondering what options I have for replacing the glass or things like that.

 

What about a different material for the bed instead of glass? I haven't really looked into it but maybe one of those magnetic build platforms you can remove. That would also have the advantage of being able to remove your print bed. Are there any reasons to not go that route?

 

Removable more than 12 inches then

Thanks for all the help