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Extruder cloggs after a few layers

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Denis Geral, Mar 14, 2014.

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  1. Denis Geral

    Denis Geral New Member

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    Hi all
    I have the brand extruder, I use Cura, I could print several objects in ABS without having this problem (thanks to some of you for starting help).
    Last few days every print job fails because of extruder clogging after one or two layers.
    I kill the job, put 230°C and remove filament from extruder, it looks like this :
    filament extrudeur bouche.jpg
    Hobbed bolt turns fine but extruder seems clogged.
    If I put a new filament and push, or remount and click on "extrude", it works.
    If I launch a new print it works fine but cloggs again after some time.
    On the graph temp is good when it cloggs.
    Somebody knows what the problem is ?...
    Thanks
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I would suggest printing a bit hotter.
    Not all filament likes the suggested temps and the accuracy of the thermistor is always possibly off.
     
  3. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    also, have you cleaned out your hobbed bolt? Once you start grinding like that, you've got to clean up the mess or things just get worse.
     
  4. Denis Geral

    Denis Geral New Member

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  5. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    Maybe you have a cracked PTFE tube, something is off with the temperature cal, or that filament is just higher temp for some reason.

    That is the right link to the E3D. A lot of people have installed them and been happy with the upgrade. It will allow you to print at higher temps without risk of damaging parts of the hot end.
     
  6. Bill Antalek

    Bill Antalek New Member

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    How does this E3D hotend mount? It doesn't look like it fits.

    My printer is no longer printing after a making a couple of prints. Something continues to block the nozzle after a few layers. Running a guitar string through it fixes it temporarily and then it clogs again after a few layers. If I could get the nozzle out, could probably clear it out.
     
  7. sarge5020

    sarge5020 Member

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    I'm running into the same problem. I've turned up the temperature to 235c with the E3D print head. Right now I'm making some glow-in-the-dark address numbers for my daughter. Getting through the first layer was a challenge as I had to pause the print several times. The filament would stop coming out, I would check the exturder head and the filament would be turning into a big curly cue. I would remove the filament, cut it and re-insert it into the exturder and the plastic would come out of the head just fine. Weird. Anyway, the print is on layer 3 of 20 and SEEMS to be going fine (knock wood). I've had this issue with t-glase, regular ABS and the glow-in-the-dark ABS. Granted I am now running the print head hotter at 235c instead of 220c.
    Cheers,
    John
    NK 3D Printing
    Windsor, Ontario, Canada
     
  8. Denis Geral

    Denis Geral New Member

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    Hi
    I had the problem with the blue ABS spool, I changed for the green one and I could print 2 (small) things without problem. Maybe a bad spool ?
     
  9. sarge5020

    sarge5020 Member

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    Could be the beginning of a new spool of filament. Seems to be going pretty well right now.
     
  10. Denis Geral

    Denis Geral New Member

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    Hi
    I noticed something : if I print in the morning, when the printer is well rested, printing job is OK, but if I print the whole day long, afternoon printings fail with extruder clogging.
    I think my printer is lazy ! It refuses to work too much !
    So I let it rest a few hours between printings :D
     
  11. Denis Geral

    Denis Geral New Member

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    Some good news :
    I changed for E3D extruder and put 240°C, and everything works great !!
    As I suspected, 230°C was too low and caused stock extruder to clogg.
    When writing this I'm printing since 2 hours without any problem with the blue spool that clogged every time before.
    This E3D extruder is really worth it. It's a little work fot install it, I also replaced connectors by solded wires for better electrical contacts.
    Thanks to all for the advices.
     
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